Curse of a Fallen Soul
by Monkey85
Summary: Bella never thought she would have a chance with Edward Masen. He only ever saw the beautiful girls.She didn't expect one conversation to change that...She also never expected to make friends with his sister Alice.That was when it all changed. AU/AH
1. Prologue

**This is my sisters story idea... she thinks I can write for some reason and has bugged me for weeks to write it.**

**Twilight belongs to SMeyer, not me.. I don't really want to own it either... no thanks.**

* * *

**Prologue**

It felt as if I couldn't breathe, my chest was tight my body was shaking. I just knew this was the end; this was where I was going to be murdered. All I could smell was gasoline, blood, and dirt, it was all over me; my hair, my clothes, my skin. I don't know how long I'd been in the dark, damp, hot shed. Hours, days, weeks… I just knew that it was coming up to the end. Whoever he was that was keeping me bound was digging, had been digging for the last few hours, minutes? I could hear as the shovel broke through the earth each and every time. Each time more tears will slip down my face.

What had I done with my life? Would anyone miss me when I was gone? Was I being missed now? Why would anyone want to miss me? I was no one, I was plain, and I was boring, shy, and nerdish to a point. I had hardly any friends, and they were just too good to miss me, too perfect. Maybe this was what was meant to be; maybe I was supposed to die today. This had to be the plan Rosalie always talked about, it had to be. Why else would I have been kidnapped and bound, doused in gas and thrown into a dark, damp, hot shed? I've done nothing in my life to warrant any attention from anyone… why me?

I closed my eyes trying to will the tears to stop, I didn't want this monster to see my tears, and I wanted to be brave. If not for myself then for who ever found my dead body, if they were even looking for me. I cried harder as my mind was flooded with memories of everyone I loved.

_"Bells, I think you'll love living with Renee in Arizona." My dad smiled down at me before pulling me into a tight hug, "I'll miss you cooking dinner, and so don't forget to visit when you can." He added squeezing a little tighter; he released me as I headed off to live with my mom in Arizona. _

_"Bella!" My mother smiled wrapping her arms around me in a hug, "I'm so happy you've decided to live with me!_

_"Bella!" _ All of their voices and faces assaulted my memory at the same time causing me to break down even more.

_"Bella… I … la… Bella" he whispered climbing the rest of the way through my bedroom window. "Don't do that again." His face was pulled in a grimace, his eyes pained._

The sound of the shovel clattering on the cement outside caused my eyes to snap open and me to sob harder and my body to shake violently. This is it, my end.

My eyes involuntarily closed as the shed door opened a flood of light broke through; it was the first time in hours that my eyes had seen any type of light. The guy took a step closer to me, causing me to sob even louder, if that was even possible, so much for being brave.

"Bella." My name coming out of his mouth sounded like filth. He squatted down in front of me and ran his fingers over my cheek. I shivered at the touch, his fingers were cold and callused, rough.

This is how I die.

* * *

**Future chapters will be longer.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Thanks for all the reviews and alerts! Wow I didn't expect so many! After the first few I knew I'd have to keep this going! I hope you all like this story. Please let me know.**

**Just so everyone knows, this story is OOC AU/AH (ALL HUMAN). And I don't own anything.  
**

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

I sighed sick of my hair; I grabbed a hair tie and pulled my hair up in a loose ponytail. Why I even bothered was beyond me, no one paid much attention to me, especially boys. Trying to look cute on the first day back to school was dumb, I just wasn't cute I was plain; boring and plain pale Isabella Swan: The Freak. As I heard a few girls at school scoff at me when I would walk past them in the hall.

I was… no am a freak; I had made one friend the first year I was at school and one more just before school started. I kept to my self; I read books, studied, didn't party. That wasn't something they like about me. They hated that I would correct them in class when they got the answer wrong, I'd had to correct my teachers so many times back at Forks High. After getting detention for a billionth time my father thought it best that I move with my mom and go to a 'proper' high school as he put it.

That was one of the shittiest things he had done for me, at the same time the best things he did. At Phoenix High I was able to take the classes that Forks couldn't offer, Calculus,  
Trigonometry, Chemistry, Advanced Chemistry, Psychology, and so on and so forth. Forks offered Algebra and biology. I guess calling moving in with my mom the shittiest thing Charlie did for me wasn't right at all, he helped me. If it weren't for him pushing me to the gate I would be stuck in Forks, in the rain taking Algebra and P.E.

"Bella, honey Rosalie is here!" My mother yelled up the stairs snapping me out of my thoughts.

Rosalie was one of my best friends at school; well she was pretty much my only friend at school. I met her on my first day, she was assigned to show me around and introduce me to the teachers. The first time I saw her I thought she was going to be the biggest bitch in the world she was drop dead gorgeous and I didn't want to be around her. Those sort of thoughts went through my head as I looked at her long blonde hair and beautiful face, this had to be some sick joke. Get the most beautiful girl in school to show the most boring and plain girl around. They hated me didn't they? When she spoke to me I was shocked, she wasn't rude, condescending or anything remotely hostile, she was friendly. We became fast friends following that first meeting.

"By mom!" I half shouted as I grabbed Rosalie's arm and yanked her out my front door.

"Gosh Bells, excited for school?" Rose laughed as we climbed into her car.

I rolled my eyes, I was never excited for school not really anyway. I hated being in high school, I wanted to be in college to start my life. Nothing good ever came out of high school, I had one boyfriend and that was when I lived in Forks. Eric Yorkie and that had been a mistake from the get go, but I was desperate and lonely. He was a very big mistake that I wanted to forget, and I didn't get the chance too over the summer. I had to visit my dad for most of the summer and he was there, all the time.

"I wish we had more than English together Rosa." I sighed leaning my head against the window.

"Not all of us at school are as smart as you Bells, sorry. You'll have to make due with Edward Masen." She held back her laugh.

I hated Edward Masen. Seemed like the biggest playboy at school had to also be one of the smartest. He was in all of my advanced classes last year, which means he'll be in them all this year.

We never talked; he probably couldn't even point me out in an empty room. That is how it was with him. His mother was Esme Masen-Cullen; real estate mogul, his father or rather step-father was Dr. Carlisle Cullen; doctor, surgeon. He was the richest kid at school; he knew it and he loved every moment of it. He had to be the biggest prick to anyone who wasn't high on the social ladder enough to be on his radar. At least I wasn't high enough to be noticed by him, he sat with Tanya in all of our classes together last year, and she was a senior, so I knew she wouldn't be in the classes this year.

"Don't bring him up please!" I groaned looking at her, "I feel like I'm going to be seeing way too much of him this year," I added.

"How could you say that? Do you remember the first time you saw him?" She asked

I did remember the first time I saw him; he was the hottest thing I had ever seen in my whole life. His fair complexion, bronze hair and green eyes; I couldn't stop thinking about him… that is until I stumbled upon him and Jessica Stanley behind one of the buildings. They didn't see me but I saw a whole lot of them, too much of them. He might have been one of the smartest guys at school, but he was also the dumbest. Who would have thought I would catch Mr. Brains, Mr. Star quarter back getting a blow job while smoking weed. Not me and ever since all I see when I look at him is the way he looked when she was going down on him. It didn't help that later that day I saw him making out with Tanya during lunch.

"I've became friends with his new sister." I looked at Rose, she looked confused, "So I guess the good Doctor and the Misses decided to adopt some girl. She is our age, and I was her friendly Phoenix escort last week." I supplied Rosalie with the much needed information.

I looked over at her and sure enough she had a huge fucking ass smile on her face.

"God has a plan for us all Bells. Maybe this girl is part of yours." She turned into the parking lot of the school and pulled up next to non other than Mr. Masen and his newly acquired adopted sister Alice Cullen.

"None of your God crap today please, I already know the man hates me for Eric, I don't need to know that he hates me more for unknown reasons." I sighed as I slowly got out of the car.

"Isa!" I cringed at the name Alice started calling me as soon as she heard my name. I hope she realized I hated my name, even Bella was the most ridiculous name but I could tolerate it.

Standing in front of Edward Masen and Alice made me feel like the lowest possible thing on earth, not only did Edward look like a Greek god his adopted sister was beautiful as well. She was wearing this off the shoulder black and white dress with a big red belt. Her black hair was short and spiked up in the back and she just looked like perfection. God really did hate me, first Rosalie with his ungodly beauty and now I was standing in front of Edward and Alice. I just wanted to go home and slit my wrists at the way I felt; I felt ugly, plain.

"I'll meet you here after school." His velvety voice broke me of my mental hate bashing. I snapped my eyes up to him as he smiled at Rosalie and brushed past me. Figures he would ignore me, I was the dirt below the rock that was below the dirt that was below anything else for that matter when it came to him.

Alice was nice. When I first talked to her last week she was very shy but ten minutes later she declared me her best friend, and told me we would spend every moment we could together during our last year as high school kids. I laughed, thinking she was just trying to make me feel good about myself. Sure enough though, she was over at my house at least three days last week. She had her newly acquired adopted brother Emmett Cullen drop her off and pick her up. I liked her, she was sweet and caring and she told me she really enjoyed hanging out with me, she also told me that she felt alone in the Masen-Cullen house because she was the only girl there there besides Esme, and then even Esme wasn't home often. It made me feel sad for her; she was adopted and then pretty much just left alone with two of the biggest fucking dicks in the world.

"Rosalie, I want you to meet Alice Cullen." I smiled at the two of them. This was the first time my best friend got to meet a new friend of mine, since I had no others.

"Rosalie, what a beautiful name… Gosh you are beautiful!" Alice smiled taking Rose into a hug.

Before anything else could be said the warning bell rung informing us that we were about to be late to the first day of class. We walked into the building as quickly as we could, or should I say, I could. I am known to be very clumsy when it comes to anything, I could stumble over a flat surface, and I could probably trip when I was just standing still. I often wondered if something was wrong with me, but every time I went to a check up nothing seemed wrong. Maybe I just didn't pay enough attention to the things around me, or maybe God was just out to get me.

I pulled out my schedule to make sure I went to the right class; I didn't want to show up in Spanish when I was supposed to be in English or something like that.

1. Advanced Trig

2. Advanced English

3. Advanced Chemistry

4. Psychology II

5. Spanish II

6. Free Period

I had lunch after 4th and a free period for 6th which would probably get filled with another class. I should be in College. I guess on the plus side, by taking these classes I get both high school and college credits for them. That should help me with my tuition when I get into the University of Phoenix. I've really set my goal high can't you tell? I'm pretty fucking smart but even with my brain I couldn't afford anything out of state or anything Ivy League. That, I know for sure, was not in the books. Not even in the works to be in the books for me. On the down side of these advance classes was there weren't a whole lot of people taking them. Class usually had about 10 students in them and I liked it that way, I think it helped with the learning process. The teacher wasn't trying to help out 30 dim witted students, he or she was trying to help out 10 bright usually stumped the teacher and they'd have to get back to us with an answer.

Of course just as I got to the classroom door the bell rang again indicating that I was late. And in typical Bella fashion I nearly fell on my face rushing in, causing a few snickers from the small class. I started for a seat in the back when the teacher's voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Ms. Swan, please take the seat next to Mr. Masen and Ms. Lang." I closed my eyes feeling the heat slowly rise up my neck and to my cheeks. I slumped down in the seat, to my right Anna Lang gave me a half smile which I tried to return. I didn't even look to my left at Edward I already knew he wouldn't be looking at me, and so went my day.

Every class but Psychology I had with Edward Masen, and the lovely teachers thought it would be a great thing to have him as my lab partner in Chemistry. This year was going to be the worst year of my life; I could just tell God really did hate me. I almost broke down in to tears in Chemistry; I was sitting in the back like I normally do in every class when the teacher gave us our assigned seats. I had waited a few minutes while Edward chatted it up with Jane Young: blonde, long legs, big tits. I cleared my throat and asked if I could take my seat, she huffed and Edward shot me a dark glare and once again didn't look at me the rest of the class.

I sat with my head down at the lunch table that Rosalie and I always sat down at, I thought about going and hiding in the bathroom. I just couldn't wait for this day to be over, I almost smash my face in math, I piss off Edward is sciences and I fell out of my desk in Psychology. I didn't want to finish out the day, I already had homework for all four classes and I knew Spanish would lead to something outlandish, the teacher was known to give his biggest assignment out on the first day of class.

"Alice, come sit with us." My head snapped up at his voice, how I hated his voice with a passion. I saw Alice's back half a table in front of me, Edward was standing in front of her.

I couldn't quite make out what she was saying but I could see the look of disgust on his face and it made me want to cry when Alice gestured towards me and he rolled his eyes and stalked off towards his table with Emmett, Jessica and the bimbo squad. I don't know why I let what he thinks of me effect me so much but just knowing he thought I was disgusting made me feel even worse about my self then before.

"How has your day gone so far?" Her happy voice sung as she sat down next to me. I bit my bottom lip trying to control my emotions, this day was shit.

"Shitty, you?" I asked jumping slightly when Rosalie dropped her bag down on the table.

"Great! Rose and I have two classes together. It's so nice to know someone, it makes this easier!" Alice smiled as she took a bite of her sandwich.

"So do you have every class with Edward Masen?" Rose asked causing me to groan out in frustration. I should have never told her I had a crush on him back when I first started school. She seems to think I'm in love with the jackass, if only she knew how much I wanted to rip his head off.

Alice sat up a little too happy to hear Rosalie's question, "Yes so far all but fourth." I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest. Annoyed, I knew that I'd have Spanish with him, I had it with him the year before.

"I have fourth with him, computer graphics." Alice smiled as she pulled out her schedule and pointed to the class.

"Hey you're taking Spanish two?" I asked almost giddy at the thought that I'd get to have another class with a friend of mine, Rosalie and I had English together. She nodded and I almost wanted to squeal in happiness instead I opted for taking her into a tight hug. "Shit that's great." I smiled looking over at Rosalie and my smile dropped slightly.

"Hey no big deal…" She gave a fake smile and took a bite of her lunch.

Now I felt like shit, worse than shit, I felt like shits shit after being shat. I hope she wasn't jealous or anything like that. I just couldn't help but be happy that I'd have a class where someone actually liked me; fifth period will be the best period all year.

Little did I know that the teacher would ruin all my happiness when Alice and I entered his classroom, we were barely even in our seats before he explain to us our big Spanish assignment that was due at the end of the semester. He explained that we would be paired off and would have to work together on the assignment. I felt my smile grow wide thinking that I could work with Alice and not someone who distastes me. We both looked at each other huge smiles on our face, until he told us he already picked our partners.

My smile fell at the mention of Edward being my partner and I felt the tears stinging my eyes wanting to spill when his head snapped around and he gave me a disgusted look. I just couldn't take it anymore, what had I ever fucking done to him? I never talked to him, I left him alone I knew my place in his world. I wasn't even a speck in it, so why did he hate me so much. I barely made it out of the classroom before I had tears running down my face. I ran into the girls' bathroom and let the sobs out. I almost didn't hear Alice enter the bathroom after me; I wouldn't have known it was her she didn't put her hand on my back. She didn't ask any questions. She just rubbed my back in small circles and told me that she was there if I wanted to talk about whatever it was.

How could I talk to her about my problem? I didn't want to admit it to myself let alone anyone else. I hated the way I felt, I told my self over and over again that I hated him, that the world would be better with out him in it. Who was I kidding; even Rosalie knew I didn't hate him. I hated my self for loving him, he didn't know who I was and I was madly in love with him. Yes, he was a prick, a playboy but he did something to me that first time I saw him. He was good at everything he did; football, music, his studies, life. I just couldn't understand why he would be disgusted with me, it's not like I openly threw my self on him, I was smarter than most girls in our class.

What was wrong with me?

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 2

**WOW... I got a lot of alerts and hits on the story. That is really cool! Thanks for all of the reviews! Thanks to my sister for editing my crap for grammar and the like. Sorry it took so long to get out to you, work and trying to write this was hard.**

* * *

CHAPTER TWO

I'm not sure why sitting in the kitchen with Rosalie felt awkward but it did. She kept sighing and tapping her pencil on her notebook, huffing and sighing, it seemed every few minutes. I knew she wanted to know why I was crying in the girls' bathroom, Alice only told her I just ran out of the room and she followed me. I had to give it to Rosalie though, it usually took her all of a few seconds before she prodded and it had been well over an hour since she drove me home from school.

I was thankful that after she dropped me off she had to go back to finish out her day, it gave me an hour to think through my jumbled brain. I can't believe I cried over the fact that I had to work so close to Edward Masen in every class. I felt very stupid and even though I wanted him to notice me, I didn't at the same time. Being ignored by him meant that he just didn't notice me, if I was noticed by him he just might be meaner, angrier towards me. I don't think I can take him actually being mean to me on purpose; I might have to switch out of my advance classes.

Two hours, thirty-five minutes, forty-two seconds, "Why were you crying Bells?" Rosalie finely asked dropping her pencil and looking at me, she looked concerned.

'It's nothing Rosa." I sighed looking down at my math homework.

She snorted, "I've been your friend for over a year, THAT was something now tell me." She demanded crossing her arms over her chest. I just shook my head, "Isabella Marie Swan, I know you and I know you don't act like _that_ at school. Tell me now." She huffed raising her brows slightly higher.

"You saw how in English Mrs. McKee assigned our seats and told us about that project we had due by Thanksgiving?" I whispered out.

I looked up at her and she had a small smirk on her face, I knew it would be there. Mrs. McKee assigned me to sit next to Edward and then proceeded to tell us that we were sitting next to our project partners.

"And…"She trailed off wanting me to explain it more to her, though I know she knew.

"And it was like that in every class with him. He is my partner for everything. Rosa I can't do it, each time they called our names together he gave me his nasty look." I bit my lip and looked back down at my homework. "I just can't work with him; it'll be me and him… It'll be his looks of disgust and my tears because I don't know why I disgust him so much." I let out a breath and looked back up at my best friend.

"Well… Emmett Cullen is my partner in English; Alice told me that Jasper Whitlock was her partner in Spanish, so there… two projects that we can 'study' together with." She gave me a small smile, "Bells it's not as bad as you think, I'm sure he didn't give you a disgusted look." She said slightly unsure of it, she knew how Edward was, how picky he was with the company he kept.

Maybe I could explain to the teachers that it would be better if I worked with Alice or Rosalie instead of Edward, I don't get how writing a five thousand word paper on our favorite author should even be an assignment. I also don't see how to write it, I'm sure Edward and I have nothing in common when it comes to the books we read, I could probably do a better job with Rosalie even though her favorite things to read are car and fashion magazines. The stupid Spanish teacher wants us to work with our partners so we can write a paper on each others family. I'll just write it up for Edward that way I only have to talk to him as little as possible.

I was either thinking too hard about my projects with Edward or something because one minute Rosalie and I are doing our homework and the next thing I know Emmett Cullen and Alice are walking through the front door trailing behind my mother. I felt my heart drop into my stomach at the thought of Emmett Cullen in my house, he was just as popular as Edward, I mean they are brothers, and I just knew he hadn't ever set foot in a house like mine. All his friends at school were the rich kids, the ones with maids and drivers not a house that the paint was chipping and the furniture was years old.

"Isa!" Alice's voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I gave her a half smile before darting my eyes to Emmett, he was grinning at Rosalie, which shocked me slightly, I had never seen him look at her before.

"Bells look who pulled up just as I was getting to the door!" Mom… I could just strangle her, she has always begged for me to make more friends. She was ecstatic when Alice started to show up, I'm sure we'll have the 'sex' talk now that a boy has been in the house.

I was beginning to think my mom thought Rosalie and I were lesbians, when we first started to hang out she thought it was great but when I showed no interests in the boys at school she started to comment on how I needed a boyfriend and that I was hanging out with Rosalie too much. I almost wanted to blurt out that I wasn't even a virgin she need not worry about me being gay. I couldn't bring my self to do that, she might have a heart attack or even worse; she'd want to talk about it…give me pointers or something. I shudder to think of how that conversation would go; I'm sure she'd give me a few books and then make an appointment to get me on birth control.

"Hey Ali, Emmett." I gave a small smile towards him and stood up as Alice walked towards me, "What's going on?" I asked. I had that right didn't I? This was my house and Alice usually called before she dropped by.

"Oh… Rosalie said that you two would be doing your homework… I need to talk to you for a second." She smiled grabbing my hand and yanking me towards my bedroom.

I looked towards Rosalie as Alice drug me and noticed she had a very large smile plastered on her face as Emmett sat down next to her. Great… My best friend has a crush on Emmett Cullen. All I need to hear from Alice is that she has the hots for some fucktard at school and I'll be alone.

Shutting the door to my room I turned and faced her, she was bouncing on her feet, her hands were clasped tightly together and her bangles were clanking together. What is with this girl? What has her so wound up that she's bouncing with that much excitement?

"Well…?" I started looking at her, what the hell is going on?

"What all do you know about Jasper Whitlock?" She asked in one breathe, at the same time I felt my soul being crushed. Looks like I'll be alone this year, for sure. Little Alice Cullen has a crush on Jasper Whitlock, Edward Masen's best friend.

Sighing I leaned against the door, "Nothing really… he was in my history and Spanish class last year, plays football and soccer. Best friends with Edward." I shrugged my shoulders. "Why?" Did I really want to know? Sort of… maybe, I wasn't even sure.

"I think I'm in love!" She smiled as she bound over to me and grabbed my arms, "After I went back to Spanish to grab my bag he was still there and he walked me to my class. Turns out we have the same six period together and he sat next to me and… I… He… It's like… I…" She trailed off as a big smile spread across her face.

Great, now these so called "study' sessions that Rosalie was talking about will consist of Alice and Jasper Whitlock making out, and quite possibly Rosalie and Emmett as well leaving me to deal with Mr. Disgusted-At-The-Site-of-Me Masen.

"Don't be ridicules, love, Alice? Really you just met the guy." I stated, it was the truth, how could she be in love with that ass with out knowing who he was and how he acted. This guy is best friends with Edward and Emmett; the three of them get into so much shit together.

"You don't understand! When I look at him I just know he is the one." She had a dreamy look in her eyes and a smile so bright I almost wanted to joke that I needed sunglasses to defect the shine.

I wanted to grab her and shake her, tell her how much a dick Jasper really was. Yes he was good looking but that did nothing for him when he was walking around acting like he was Gods gift to women. I sighed as I watched the smile drop from her face. Is there something I'm supposed to say at this point? I'd never been in love, or at least that is what I want to tell my self. The thing with Edward wasn't love, I was infatuated with him, he intrigued me and once I got to know him better I'd hate him even more. He'll prove to be the dick that I had him painted to be and my life would get better.

"…So what do you say?" She looked slightly happy almost hopeful, I stared at her, what do I say?

"You shouldn't try anything with him, he is bad news, if Edward is any indication on how he is then I'd stay away from him… love or not." I stated crossing my arms over my chest.

She just stared at me; did I just overstep some sort of boundary? Was I not supposed to voice my opinion on whom she thought she was in love with? Maybe I did, Rosalie never voiced any concern when I told her I thought Edward was hot. Her smile fell and her bounce stopped as she took in my face and stance.

"I'm sorry…" Maybe she didn't want my opinion on him, maybe she knew him better than I did, and she did live with Edward she knew how he was. "What did you say again?" I asked maybe if she asked her question again I could stop my word vomit and not upset my new friend.

The smile was back same with the bounce, she squeezed my hands, "Jasper wants to hang out and do homework tomorrow." She bit her lip. So… So he wants her to hang out why is she looking at me like that, like she wants me to… shit.

"Please… please come over tomorrow." She begged, probably seeing my face pale or something.

"I don't think that's a good idea Alice." I stated firmly, no way in hell would I be spending my evening watching her fawn over Jasper Whitlock, no way would I allow my self to be around Edward Masen and his hatred for me. Her eyes were pleading with me, asking me to help her out with this. "Ali we… I don't belong at your house. Your brothers will make that clear… we are from two different worlds…" I tried to reason with my self. I knew she didn't care where I was from or how much money I had in my bank account.

"Don't be stupid Isa. I want you there!" She smiled grabbing me up in a hug. "You can ride to my house with us after school!" She beamed at me.

Shit. Not only was I going to there house, I had to ride with them as well. Did Alice really hate me or something? I can't really blame her; she has no idea my feelings toward Edward or his for me.

"I… I'll ask my mom…" I gave a half shrug as I bit down on my lower lip.

How could I say no to her? She looked just as nervous as I did about hanging out with Jasper; her hand was twisting the bangles on her left arm around over and over again. She took a deep breath and the smile on her face got bigger, I'm not sure how it could have but it did.

"Thank you!" She grinned taking me into a tight hug, this girl was sure strong.

I gave a half smile after she released me from her death grip and pushed off the door. Shit. Shit. Shit. What did I get myself into? I'm going to have to tell Alice about my feels for Edward. I've got to let her know I can't be around him, that his distaste for me huts more than he knows.

We slowly walked back into the kitchen. My mom was starting dinner and Rosalie and Emmett were still talking, about? I don't know. Or at least I didn't want to know. I cleared my throat which caused the two of them to look up at Alice and I. Rosalie's cheeks turned pink and, she looked back to her school work. Emmett stood up and started towards the front door, I guess it was time for him and Alice to leave.

"See ya at school Rose." He said over his shoulders causing Rosalie to blush an even deeper pink color.

The moment the front door closed I cleared my throat again and sat across from her. She tried to fight the smile on her lips, I cocked an eyebrow at her wanting to know what the hell just happened.

"He asked me out on a date Friday night." Her voice was small but the smile on her face wasn't.

"Emmett Cullen." I stated with a little disgust, she knew how he was, who he'd been with. "Rosa… Emmett Cullen?" I asked this time at the look on her face.

"Bella… Edward Masen?" She countered, I glared at her and looked at my mom, she was trying to make it look like she wasn't listening to us talk.

I stood up and grabbed her arm and pulled her to my bedroom. I didn't want my mother to get any ideas, just hearing Edwards name was going to be enough fuel for now. Rosalie shut the door and sat down on my bed, her legs were folded under her and she had a smile plastered on her face. Could she be anymore pathetic? Emmett wanted one thing and one thing only from Rosalie: Sex. He wanted sex and she was all about sex _after_ marriage not before. I've heard the speech too many times to count. I put an end to them when I told her I had already had sex.

"Rosa… Emmett Cullen?" I asked again giving her a look I knew she understood my concern.

"I'm not going to sleep with him Bells." She stated firmly her smile dropping slightly; she knew he would want too at some point if they became an item.

I sat on my bed with a sigh. "You don't need to defend your self with me Rosa. I… I'm just nervous for you… I don't want you to get hurt." I stated

It was the truth. I didn't know she liked him, she never brought it up. Maybe it's because I always talked so much about how the Masen-Cullen family were asses and too snooty to be anything but rude, rich asses. She gave me a half smile and grabbed my hand squeezing it slightly.

"What did Alice want?" She asked

Get right too it huh? "Jasper wants to do homework with her; she wants me to tag along." I sighed covering my face with my free hand. "I'm going to be spending the whole day with Edward Masen." I groaned falling back on to the bed.

I think today is the worse day of my life. Even worse then the time I fell down the stairs at school back in Forks, even worse then talking to Charlie about getting my period I don't think anything could top this.

"Don't act like you aren't going to enjoy every second of it." Rosalie giggled causing me to groan even louder. I hate her. "Maybe you should corner him at his house tomorrow and screw him." She added.

"ROSA!" I shouted sitting up, where the hell did that come from? I really do hate her.

"What? Just because I said I wouldn't have sex before I was married doesn't mean I'm a prude." She stated with a shrug to her shoulder, "It's painfully obvious you want to sleep with him. Just get it over with." She smirked at me.

I grabbed my pillow and hit her upside the head with it. Of course I wanted to sleep with him, I mean who wouldn't? The man was a Greek God, I'd have to be blind not to see how hot and sexy he was. But that didn't mean I wanted to just jump him, I'm not some easy girl who'd do that. I know Rosalie knew this; she was just trying to help me get over this thing with him. Plus even if I were that type, I'm not _his_ type of girl. His type is the girls with big boobs and long blond hair, something I had neither of.

I just hope he has some sort of sports practice tomorrow; I really don't want to have to be around him for longer than I really need to be. Maybe I could ask Alice if we could study in her bedroom. She'd probably like that, give her an easy time to make out with Jasper if that is what she wanted to do. Would I want to be in the same room as them making out though? No... No I wouldn't. Or would I? It was either watch them make out or suffer being around Edward. I'd actually rather suffer than watch anyone suck face with Whitlock.

After a short pillow fight, one that had me falling off the bed and hitting my head on the nightstand we made our way back to the kitchen. Rosalie packed her books up and left for home while Renee and I sat down to eat dinner. She had a small smile on her face the whole time we were sitting at the table. I knew exactly what she was thinking, well I thought I did. That smile was on her face the moment Rosalie mentioned Edwards name. I sighed and pushed my food around with my fork, I wasn't really hungry not after everything today and the thoughts of tomorrow causing me to feel ill.

"So, Edward Masen?" She asked raising an eyebrow at me. I dropped my fork and crossed my arms over my chest.

"No mom… no Edward Masen." I stared at her; I shouldn't give her a hard time. Isn't this what mothers dreamed of? Their little girls getting crushes, going on dates, getting kissed?

"Why not? He is a very handsome young man!" She exclaimed, even my mom thought he was _handsome_. I rolled my eyes, my arms still crossed over my chest.

"I'm not good enough for him mom. I'm way below his class, leave it." I answered; she raised both eyebrows at my words. Shock? Why would she be shocked at that? She knew how rich his family was and how lacking of money we were.

"Bella… if anything, it is _you_ who is too good for him, not the other way around." She sighed as she collected her plate and started to clean up the dinner mess.

Well that's the first. Rosalie always said we'd be perfect for each other but she never said that maybe I was too good for him. What did my mom know? Did she know how he really was? That he was the biggest dicks at school, that he could get whatever he wanted and did just that? I scraped my plate into the trash and helped wash the dishes, the quiet was killing me. Usually we did the dishes talking about random things or singing to the songs on the radio but not tonight. Something was wrong… something was off. I turned my head towards her to ask her what was wrong but before the words could leave my mouth she took me in a bear like hug.

"Mom…" I trailed off as she hugged me tighter, she pulled away and she had tears in her eyes. Was she really this happy that I had a crush on a boy? "Mom?" I asked this time a little confused.

"Esme's boy…" She shook her head slightly as she wiped a tear away, I looked at her, I was even more confused. How did she know Edwards mom? She must have noticed my confusion; she shook her head and grabbed my hand.

"Just be careful, Edward has been through a lot and I don't want either of you getting hurt." She tried to smile but it didn't reach her eyes.

What the hell was she talking about? "What…" I started but stopped when she hugged me again. Strange. Very, very strange, "Mom you are crazy. I'm not dating him nor will I ever be dating him. We aren't even friends not now not ever." I stated. It's the truth; the guy hated me with his life I just couldn't see him coming around and wanting to be anything with me, not even a friend. He hated being my partner in class why would he want to be a friend of mine?

"Don't be silly Bells, you're a good catch." She gave a shrug of her shoulders.

"Mom… how do you know Esme?" I asked, it's a legit question is it not?

She nearly dropped the plate in her hand at my question; did she think that I wouldn't ask that question? She knew me, she knew I'd ask how she knew Edwards mom.

"We used to be friends for a very long time. You… you and Edward use to play together as toddlers, that was before your father and I divorced and he took you to Forks. That was a long time ago though." She answered never looking at me.

Should I press her about more? Why weren't they friends? Was it because she came into money and was too good to be friends with the poor? If that was the case then screw the Masen-Cullen family, screw them. I stared at her for a few moments before deciding to not ask any more questions, she looked sad, upset… I could see the tears pooling in her eyes.

We finished the dinner dishes in silence and I went to my bedroom to finish my homework. Today was the strangest day ever. What the hell was going on in my life?

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter...**


	4. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

I'm going to be seeing Edward Masen all day today, what is wrong with the world? I didn't sleep well last night; tossed and turned I probably got three hours of sleep. Maybe I should fake sick and have Renee call in sick for me. I don't think I can face him today, not after waking up and seeing the knot on my forehead from where I hit it on the nightstand after the pillow fight with Rosalie. Why hadn't I felt it last night? Oh that's right, I'm so used to getting hurt I've become numb to the pain. It is right above my left eye, big blue and green with a small split in it, really why hadn't I noticed it last night? Why hadn't my mom or Rosalie said anything? Maybe they were so used to me being hurt that it didn't even faze them.

Shit. I have to go to school like this. I shouldn't be nervous I've looked worse. Once I went to school with two black eyes, I tripped and my face met the coffee table. No amount of make-up can cover black eyes, or this knot on my face. Maybe if I keep my hair down and in my face no one will ask what happened. Even after being at the school for a year the teachers still ask about any bruise or mark on me, I think they think I'm being abused at home.

After several minutes of trying to decide on how I was going to hide my face Renee called up to the bathroom, Rosalie was here to pick me up. I sighed and figured if I try to hide it the knot will be more noticeable, I grabbed a hair tie and pulled my hair up quick. That should do, if anyone asks I'll say I got into a fight with a table… again.

We both said bye to my mom and got in Rosalie's car, she turned to me and smiled brightly.

"Emmett called me last night." She gushed as she pulled onto the road to drive us to school.

Great, now I have to talk about the boyfriend to her. If it didn't make me a bad friend I would have told her not to talk about the dick. I couldn't do that though, Rosalie can't seem to keep a boyfriend. She's been adamant about no sex before marriage and after so many dates the boys usually break up with her because she won't budge. I just want to grab her by the shoulders and tell her that Emmett is just like the rest of the guys at school. Once he really knows she isn't just saying it he'll break up with her, he'll break her heart.

But instead of telling her he is a dick I just smile at her, "That's great Rosa!" I'm not a bitch, I'm not going to hurt my friends just because I don't like the boy she's crushing on.

She informed me that he had called to make sure she really would go to dinner with him on Friday night. So we now had to find her something to wear for the big date. Her smile couldn't get any brighter. We pulled into a parking spot at school and I noticed that Alice and both her brothers were standing by his Volvo. Great, I can't even arrive at school without seeing him.

"Oh Rosa… I forgot to tell you…"I started getting her attention before she got out of her car. She turned to face me, "I'm getting a ride with Alice after school." I bit my lip, I wasn't sure if she'd be upset we always rode together to and from school.

"You told me that last night!" She laughed with a roll of her eyes, "Where is your head?" She added getting out of the car.

Did I really tell her last night? I know I told her that Alice invited me over, maybe I did tell her. I got out of the car and started towards the group of people, Rosalie was already standing in front of Emmett and Edward. I looked at Alice; she was wearing a white skirt and white shirt, but a yellow belt and yellow shoes. She had yellow and white bangles on her arm and a bright smile. I let my eyes roam over to Edward, which was a first for me in a long time. He was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans that hung low on his hips and a tight black tee-shirt. I pulled my eyes away from gawking at him when Alice grabbed my arm.

"What happened to your face?" She asks, so loud that the group turned to look at me. I could feel my cheeks burn with the blush she caused and I closed my eyes.

"Oh… Uh… Rosalie and I got into a pillow fight, I lost." I gave a half smile with a shrug. It was the truth. I did loose, just not to Rosalie… I lost to the table.

I heard Rosalie laugh and looked up at her then to the others. Emmett had a large smile on his face as he was looking between Rosalie and I. Edward, well, he looked disgusted as he looked at me. Great… of course actually, what did I expect from him? Alice just linked her arm with me and we started towards the building.

"You really are clumsy!" She laughed causing me to laugh.

Yes I was really clumsy, I'm surprised I haven't broken my neck or something more serious than a few bones and a lot of bruises. We made it to our lockers and I shoved everything in there, except for my math book. I still had a few problems to work on, which is stupid since I understood this stuff.

"I'll see you at lunch. I need to go work on the rest of my math before class starts." I stated closing my locker; I waved and headed to class.

I had more than one reason to get to class early today. One, I didn't want to trip in front of the class again like yesterday. Two, I didn't want to have to look at Edward as I walked to my seat. And three, I actually had a few more equations to work on. I was a few doors away from my classroom when it happened. A few of the football players were throwing the ball around the hall and I just happened to get in the way. Of the ball that is, I saw it coming towards my face and tried to duck away from it, which was probably one of the stupidest things I could have done. I tripped over my own feet and in that moment I could see my face smashing into the wall I was falling towards and I could already smell the blood that would most likely come from the impact.

The impact I saw in my mind never happened. At least not the way I saw it, I still managed to meet the wall, only I was being pressed into it rather than hitting it. I was being sandwich between the wall and a very warm, very hard body I groaned a little. I hadn't realized someone was behind me when I tripped.

"Shit," I froze. It was his voice, he was pressed against my back, and he was the warm hard body that was making me groan. I almost did it again but bit my bottom lip; I would not embarrass myself.

"I'm sorry I tripped." His voice again, he tripped? But I tripped; I must have taken him with me. Why was he standing so close to me when I tripped?

He wasn't moving, how come he wasn't moving off of me. I turned my head to the left and saw that his hand was on the wall. His hand, his perfect hand was braced on the wall next to my face. I couldn't find my voice, even if I had what would I say? Get off me Masen? Or let's skip class and go screw? Shit what is going on? Edward Masen just tripped and here I am thinking about how great his body fees pressed against mine. I took a deep breath and managed to turn around so that I was facing him. If I could get my voice to work maybe I could glare at him hard enough to get him away from me.

I shouldn't have turned around; I was not prepared for the look on his face when he realized it was me who he had pinned to the wall. At least it wasn't disgust, it was a mix between anger and something else, hatred?

"Masen! No fucking in the halls!" I heard one of his wonderful team mates yell. That was all I need to snap me out of whatever haze he put me in.

"Sorry… my fault." I stated hardly above a whisper. I watched as his mouth opened a few times and then pushed him off of me and went to class. I don't think I could handle what he said; it was probably nothing nice anyway.

I kept my head down all of math; I only raised it when the teacher was explaining to us how to do tomorrows homework. I could see Edward in my peripherals, he kept glancing my way and it was making me feel… shit I don't know… strange. He never looked at me, ever. When class was finally over I waited until everyone had left before I made my way to English. I didn't want to have another run in with anyone. I was barely in my seat when Rosalie came up from her seat and squatted in front of me.

"Are you alright?" She asked, why was she asking me if I was alright? Did I look sick or not alright? I furrowed my eyebrows at her and slightly cocked my head to the side. "I heard what happened before first period." What?

"What?" My voice came out slightly shaky. Who the hell has been talking? It lasted all of a few seconds. I think.

"Jessica Stanley saw you and Edward together in the hall." She stated.

I'm going to kill that dumb bitch. She's probably got some rumor about how I'm screwing Edward Masen, and it's just a pity fuck for him because I'm so poor and boring.

"We… I tripped. I think I may have tripped him. He pretty much saved my face from needing stitches." I whispered. I guess it wasn't quiet enough, because I heard a grunt next to me and I jumped. Shit he was sitting there while Rosalie and I talked about him.

She just ignored him, "That's not what Stanley is saying." She stated, almost looking hopeful.

"Jessica Stanley is a stupid whore, she just wants to start rumors so that the one floating around about her having herpes will stop." I glared and turned to face the voice; those were almost the same words I was going to say. He was glaring back, his eyes shifting between Rosalie and me.

I cleared my throat and was about to respond but Rosa beat me to it. "So does that mean you have herpes?" She cocked an eyebrow at him and I tried to hold in my laughter. His face got red and his fists were balled so tight his knuckles turned white. Well shit, Mr. Hotshot was pissed, like what wasn't a first.

"She wishes I fucked her." Was his only response, I could see his chest heaving as he took deep breaths trying to calm himself down.

Rosalie let out a loud laugh which caused him to glare at her. I held my arms around my waist and just stared at her. If I dare look at him I wasn't sure I could hold my laughter in. Before anything more could be said Mrs. McKee came in and started class, Rosalie went back to her seat and I was stuck with a fuming Edward staring straight ahead. I almost wished I had kept my hair down; I would have used it as a wall between the two of us. I couldn't keep my eyes from drifting to him. I never had such a hard time before; all I could think about was how great it felt to have him pressing against me in the hall. It was like some sort of electric charge ran through my body where he was touching. It felt good… no, great.

The moment the bell rang to end class Edward was out the door. I slowly stood up and gathered my things. Rosalie stopped next to me and gave me a small smile.

"So…" She trailed off.

"So?" I asked raising an eyebrow at her.

"Tell me why he was holding you…. the truth," Her smile still on her face.

I rolled my eyes at her, "There was no holding Rosa. Some jocks were throwing a football it almost hit my head. Me being clumsy tried to dodge out of the way and I tripped. I was falling and the next thing I know I'm being pressed into the wall. He said he tripped and that was that." I sighed.

Close enough. I didn't have to tell her how great his body felt against mine or how he didn't even try to move off of me even after I turned around. She let out a nervous laugh as we started out of the classroom; she pulled her cell phone out and started to press buttons. Why is she so nervous all the sudden? We stopped at our lockers exchanging books and clapped me on the shoulder and said she was going to class. I quickly got to class and sighed when I noticed no one was there yet. I took my seat, which was next to Edwards and laid my head down on the table.

I was about to close my eyes when the sound of my phone beeping startled me. I sat up and dug it out of my backpack and groaned at the subject. Fuck.

To: Bella

From: Rosa

Subject: Stanley sent these out

Bells. Stanley sent these out. Call u a whore. Sry.

Attached were two pictures, the first one of Edward; his hands on either side of my body, both of us pressed against the wall in the hall. The second one was pretty much the same except I had turned around to face him, he was looking down at me and I at him. I felt sick. Jessica Stanley sent these pictures to all of her friends claiming I was Edward Masen's newest whore… slut… bimbo. My hands were shaking when I flipped the phone shut and shoved it back into my bag.

What was I supposed to do? I guess I could ignore it, act like I didn't get the pictures pretend that it never happened? The bell rang and I jumped, I hadn't noticed that the classroom was full minus one, Edward wasn't there. The teacher started class and handed out the assignment for the day. I looked up at the clock and noticed ten minutes had passed since class started. Good. He skipped I don't think I could handle doing a lab with him right now. Five more minutes had passed when the door opened and Edward strolled in, a smug smile on his lips. He dropped a note on the teachers' desk and sat next to me. I glared up at him and noticed he had lipstick on his jaw and neck. Figures he was out fucking one of his tramps.

"Ms. Swan, explain the lab to Mr. Masen please." The teacher asked causing me to divert my eyes from glaring at his lipstick clad face.

I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath, "Don't worry about it Isabell, I know what the lab is." His voice cut off my train of thought and who the hell was Isabell?

"It's Isabella." I snapped

I didn't say another word to him the rest of the class, we worked on the lab, took notes but not another word was passed between us. Isabell, who did the hell did he think he was? I almost wanted to slap the smirk off his face when I had corrected his mistake. I should have called him some fucked up version of his name. After the teacher gave us an assignment to read I all but ran out of the classroom and to my locker. I don't know what is worse, Edward Masen not knowing who I was, or Edward Masen knowing who I was? Well sort of knew who I was, he couldn't even get my name right. I was glad to have one class without anyone I was friends with; I sat with my head down reading over the assigned work, only a few times would I hear someone whisper about Edward touching me in the hall.

I stopped in my tracks on my way to lunch when I noticed that not only was Emmett Cullen sitting at the table with Rosalie and Alice but Edward was as well. I took the remaining steps and stood next to Rosalie, she looked up at me and I looked at her. I need to talk to her, she got the hint when I shifted my eyes to everyone at the table and stood up with me.

"Did you get my message?" She asked when we got to the line.

I sighed, "Yes… I've been called Masen's whore five times since I left class." And I had been, three of the people were freshmen and two of them were Stanley and Lauren Mallory. I was tempted to ask her how her herpes were but thought against it, I didn't want to get jumped by the walking STD billboards. "Why are they sitting at our table?" I asked giving her a pointed look.

"Emmett wanted to sit with Alice and I, I guess Edward didn't want to sit with Jessica…" She tailed off biting into her bottom lip.

This better be just a one day thing, I don't want to have to sit next to any of them. I wish it were last year, where Rosalie and I sat by ourselves and talked about whatever. We paid for our lunch and I sat down between Rosalie and Alice, I kept my eyes on my tray no way was I going to look at _him. _

"Isa, about today… Jasper said he has football practice so he should be over around four-thirty. Would you still come over before then and hang out?" Alice asked me, I gave her a half smile.

That would mean that Edward would be gone as well, he was the quarterback after all. I was about to answer her but _he_ beat me too it.

"Alice… it's IsabellA… not Isa." He corrected her on the correct way to say my name emphasizing the A in Bella.

Everyone was staring at the two of us. What the hell is his problem? He can't say my name right and now he wants to go and be an ass to his own fucking sister. I pushed my tray away and started to get up. I was not going to sit next to him, I couldn't do it. No way was I going to knowing I had the next class with him.

"Of course I'll still come over, as long as it's fine with Mr. and Mrs. Cullen." I gave a smile as I pushed my chair in; she stood up and did the same. She had a big smile on her face.

"Oh, yes! Esme and Carlisle said I can have anyone over anytime." She grabbed my arm and we went towards our lockers. I'm not sure why she was coming with me; I just wanted to get away from Edward.

"I don't want her over." I faintly heard Edward talking to Emmett, I looked over my shoulder and saw the Rosalie was glaring at Edward, her arms crossed over her chest and Emmett was laughing. What the hell is his problem? It's not like he even be there and when he is Alice and I will be doing homework not prancing around the house in skimpy little outfits.

"Do you not like it when I call you Isa?" Alice asked. Her usually peppy and happy voice seemed small. I looked at her; she was twisting the bangles on her arm and looking at me.

"No… it's… I don't mind it I just prefer Bella over anything else." I bit my lip.

I should have told her I hated being called Isa, Isabella, and Bella… I wish my name was more normal. Like Jennifer or Amanda or something like that. Her smile returned on her face and she gave me a tight hug.

"Bella it is then!" She laughed as she let me go, this girl is crazy, but in a good way.

"I'm sorry Edward was so rude to you…" I was cut off by her shrugging her shoulders.

"It's fine; I'm not sure what is wrong with him. He is usually very nice, at least at home. I think in the three months that I've known him he has only been an ass maybe twice." She gave a half smile.

That's weird; I could never see him being anything but an ass. I just felt bad that he had to be like that to her of all people. She just screamed fragile and it pissed me off that he had the guts to call her on my name like that, I don't care if it was in front of her friends. I wonder what he is like at home, is he a perfect gentlemen, the perfect son? I doubt it if his mom stopped being friends with my mom when she got rich I highly doubt he had anything perfect and gentlemanly about him.

I made it through Spanish without incident, Alice and Jasper got in trouble once for talking when we were supposed to be working on past tense phrases, I would have got into trouble had I let myself laugh when I saw the look on Alice's face when the teacher called her out on interrupting Mr. Whitlock's time. I was happy that I had sixth period free, and here I was just yesterday thinking I might add another class to my schedule. That would have been stupid, it was good thing I had it free.

I took my books out to a picnic table out in front of the school and started on my math homework. Maybe I could actually finish some homework before school started tomorrow. I wonder if and when I'll get the nerve up to ask Edward about our assignments in Spanish and English. I know we had three months to work on them; I just liked getting a head start on my work. Maybe I could just write my Spanish paper for him and him for me. I wonder if he'd be okay with that, as much of an ass as he was I know enough about him to know he took his school work serious. If he didn't he wouldn't be in all AP classes.

I only got half way through my math homework when I noticed a black Toyota truck sitting in front of the school; I could have sworn I saw that car outside my house yesterday. Maybe I'm being paranoid but I swear I had seen the car… I need to stop reading and watching horror shows. I jumped slightly when a throat cleared next to me; I looked up and noticed that Alice and Edward were standing there.

Shit how long had I been thinking about him and our Spanish work? I gathered my books and shoved them in my bag. We started towards their car and that's when I noticed the truck speed off. Huh, that was very strange.

"What?" Both Edward and Alice asked giving me strange look. Did I say that out loud?

I felt a blush start to creep up my neck, "What's strange?" Alice asked this time.

"Oh… Nothing, just I'm going crazy… I thought that truck had been sitting outside my house yesterday and … it's nothing." I mumbled as I ducked into the backseat.

Way to go and make myself look fucking crazy. The blush was not going away.

* * *

**B/N**

**Hello, all. Monkey85's laptop cord has been acting up, and trying to commit suicide something fierce, for the past couple months...So today just after she sent me this chapter to look over, it was not really all that surprising to find another email stating her cord was now in it's last legs of life.**

**She was trying to get it fixed last I spoke with her, but I said that I would let you all know that if she does not update for the next week or two, it's because her laptop cord is on the fritz. It could be fixed already as far as I know. But, seeing as she is currently on the other side of the world from me, and probably just waking up, I'm not positive.**

**So, why don't you all give her something to be happy about next time she logs on?**

**Review people! **

**It will make her smile, and give a HUGE incentive to write the next update ASAP as soon as she is back online...**

**...not that she wouldn't any way....:D  
**

~technically a lie.


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Wow! Thank you all for the awesome reviews! I've never gotten so many! All of them were great! I'm still having problems with my cord. Turns out HP stop making them so I'm looking into buying a new one. For now I usually write when I've got the battery charged, I can't write when I'm charging it because I have to actually hold the cord into my computer and it's very awkward and annoying!**

**The house I'm trying to write is in my profile.  
**

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR

Wow. That is the only word I can come up with. I've never been to their house before, so when we pulled past the gate my mouth hung open and all I could think was, wow. I've seen nicer houses, but this one takes the cake. I figured the Cullen family would go all out, get some sort of castle just to show off their money flaunt what others wished they had. They didn't, the house was three stories and very modern looking, right on the slope of Camelback Mountain. I couldn't take my eyes off the place, it was pretty much anyone's dream house, the lawn was manicured perfectly, of course, I'm sure they paid someone to do that. Just looking at the house and knowing I'd be standing in it made me feel so unworthy. Who am I to step into an estate like this? I am no one, I'm Bella Swan; freak, the poor girl with the freakishly brilliant brain. I sighed as I slowly got out of the car; Alice was already waiting for me by the front door. Edward had gone inside, hopefully to get changed for football practice.

"Wow, this house is beautiful, Alice." I half smiled at her as she grabbed my arm, pulling me inside.

Being inside made me feel even worse about myself, it was bright and sunny, hardwood floors and lots of windows. This is what you get when you have more money than you need.

"This is the foyer," She smiled at me dragging me further into the house; she pointed off to the front room where I barely got to see two large couches, one a bright white and red color the other a black leather and a coffee table. She stopped us in the kitchen, where she dropped her backpack on the counter and pulled out the barstool.

How could she be comfortable at my house when she lived in a place like this? Why would she even want to be my friend? Now I knew why Edward and Emmett were the way they were. If you didn't own a million plus dollar house you should not even be in the same breathing space as them. Being here also made me wonder why Edward drove a Volvo and not some fancy sports car like a Porsche or Ferrari. It also made me wonder why Alice was always getting rides everywhere. Could she just not drive? Did she not have a license? They could afford to buy her any car she wanted so why did she opt to have Edward or Emmett drive her everywhere?

"Esme wants to meet your friend," I jumped at the sound of his voice, had I really been that deep in thought? I really need to get out of my head and pay attention to the things around me. And did he just say that Esme Masen-Cullen wanted to meet me? Shit.

Shit. Shit. _Shit._

As far as I know her and my mother hate each other, so does that mean she'll hate me? Her son hates me, so it's very likely that she'll be disgusted with me as well. I looked at Alice and she beamed at me as she grabbed my arm and pulled me towards some glass doors, we were headed outside. There she was, bent over some flowers with clippers in her hands. Her brown hair was pulled up in a pony tail and she had on some sort of gardening hat, I know this because my mother wears one when she's out in the garden.

"Esme!" Alice squeaked, letting me go for a second and rushing towards her adoptive mother. "Esme, this is Bella… Bella this is Esme Cullen." Alice bounced slightly. She was very excited for us to meet; I just hope this isn't some sort of let down.

I bit my lip and walked over towards them. Esme stood up straight and turned to face me, she didn't have a dirty look on her face, she was smiling at me. Maybe she forgot about my mother, maybe she didn't recognize the last name.

"Isabella Swan, wow you've grown up since the last time I saw you." She smiled giving me the once over. "Edward told me you moved back last year, is that correct?" She asked as she pulled off her gardening gloves.

What?

He what?

He knew who I was last year and had talked about me with his mother?

What?

I blinked and just stared at her unable to find my words. I wanted to hate her but she was being so nice to me. Her smile was a real smile not a fake smile I've seen plenty of girls at school give.

"Yeah…" I barely got out as she and Alice started towards the house again, Alice grabbing me by the elbow and pulling me along.

"I'm so happy you and Alice have become friends." She stated over her shoulder as she made her way into the kitchen, "We knew it was going to be hard for her to start her senior year at a new school." She added

If it weren't for Alice I'd still be standing outside staring at this woman, this person who I just learned yesterday used to be my mother's best friend, a person who raised one of the biggest dicks at school. I hated her yesterday. Today, well today I'm not sure I just met her but she _seems_ nice. How could someone with such a warm and inviting smile raise such a dick, and stop being a friend of my mother?

Esme got us drinks and then left us to our homework. I didn't get much done during the two hours I was sitting at the counter with Alice. My thoughts were jumbled and she kept talking about homecoming which was next month. She wanted to go with Jasper but only if I went as well she said she didn't feel comfortable going on a date with him by herself just yet. I wanted to point out that they weren't even dating yet but I just didn't have the heart to tell her. It seemed like she could predict the future to a degree. She told me we were going to be best friends, and though it hasn't happened yet, she is one of my closest friends besides Rosalie.

"You have to promise me you'll go to homecoming with us!" She practically shouted causing me to roll my eyes. I didn't and wouldn't have a date; I wasn't going, I told her this. She then proceeded to tell me that last year Edward and Jasper went together without dates. Apparently that is what they did every year. So if she got Jasper to take her, she'd have Edward be my date.

I wanted to hit her. I didn't, I just rolled my eyes at her and said, "No thanks, I don't want no pity date, especially from that ass."

After two hours of chatter and not much homework Alice informed me that she had to change her clothes before Jasper showed up. This was half an hour ago and now I was sitting in her very large bedroom on her very large four poster bed as she threw clothes over her shoulder from her closet and her dresser. She has more clothes than I've ever had in my whole life. I tried to explain to her that changing her clothes was dumb that he already saw what she was wearing today and it didn't make sense.

"Bella, I want him to fall in love with me. If he sees me in the same thing… just no, I have to change." She got out as she threw more clothes behind her, "Besides if you were trying to empress a guy wouldn't you want to look your best?" She asked her back to me.

"Not really… I mean I want to look like myself. I don't want some guy to fall in love with an image. Plus I'm not nearly as rich as you to have more than one outfit during the day." I answered her as I fell back on the bed. She needed to hurry up, why was she so nervous.

After twenty more minutes Alice jumped up holding a pair of jeans and a shirt. That was what she was going to wear? Why did she just spend an hour tearing up her room looking for something to wear when I could have picked that shit out for her? She quickly changed and started to fix her makeup, which caused me to roll my eyes, _again._ This girl really was crazy, why would she want to go this far for a guy? I get that she thinks he's the love of her life but she shouldn't be like this for some guy. She should be herself and let him see what she's really like, not something she thinks he'd like.

As we made our way down stairs to see if Jasper was here I started to feel very nervous. I knew that if he were here than Edward would be as well and he'd probably be doing his homework with us. Alice stopped just before the kitchen and looked over at me, she was nervous. This little ball of energy was nervous of how Jasper would look at her. In that moment I knew that if that fucker hurt her I'd kill him. I gave her a tight smile, telling her it would be fine. It would be, she was perfect and anyone would be blind not to see it.

As we rounded into the kitchen my smile dropped, "Do you think she paid your teachers off to get partnered up with you?" That was Jasper, he was talking about me he had to be, if he was talking to Edward and being partnered up in all his classes, that would mean he was talking about me.

"That sounds like some…" His words stopped when Alice and I came into view.

Of course he'd think I wanted to be stuck with his fucking ass in class and for our assignments. Have I done something to make him think this? I don't talk to him; I try to not look at him. I can't believe how thick headed and full of himself he is, and Jasper too! I glared at him as I took my seat and paged through my unfinished math homework. I sure hope he leaves, there is no way I can work with him around.

"Let's do homework in the living room." Alice chirped throwing a look at me over her shoulder. Of course she wanted to move to the living room of course that is where the couches are.

I stuffed my books in my bag and hopped off the barstool and followed behind Alice and Jasper. I chanced a look over my shoulder to see if Edward would be following, he was, and he was a little too close for comfort. I quickly looked back in front of me as we got to the living room. The room had a large flat screen T.V on the wall and big white fluffy couches. Geez did they have any more couches and living rooms? We were lucky enough to have one couch and one front room not two!

Spanish finished, English finished, and Psychology finished, Math… math not finished. I started on Math first but stopped several times to do my other homework, I just can't seem to finish the last two equations. So here I was sitting in Alice and Edwards's living room while Alice and Jasper talk about hobbies, and Edward has his face buried in his Spanish book. Hah Mister Genius can't figure out his Spanish, I just want to do a little dance around him and point at him telling him I'm better than he is. I can't… he _is_ finished with his math and for the last ten minutes I've been tapping my pencil on my book and I've looked his way more than a hundred times. I've almost asked him if I could get help on the last two but every time I've opened my mouth to ask I've closed it just as fast. I didn't want him to know I couldn't figure out the questions, I didn't want him to think that I needed his help.

Another ten minutes and I looked up at him to see him looking at me, I glared at him and he cleared his throat. Shit. I know what he is going to do; he is going to ask for my help. Please let him ask that way I don't have to ask first, I can help him and he can help me.

"Uh… Isabella could… can you help me…" He stammered through his sentence. Good. He should be afraid to ask me for help, I should just tell him to fuck off and be done with his ass. Of course I can't do that, I do need help of my own with my work.

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding, "Sure… if you help me with these two equations?" I gave a small smile, the type where you get a small dimple from the force of it.

He nodded his head and scooted so that we were shoulder and shoulder. My breath caught in my throat when his shoulder touched mine, that current, the tingly takes your breath away feeling, it was back and I had to stop a groan… moan? From the back of my throat, this was the second time we've ever touched and all I wanted to do was throw myself at him and I didn't care that Alice and Jasper were sitting on the couch in front of us. I didn't even care that Edward didn't want me that way; I didn't want this feeling to stop, not now not ever. I didn't notice that Edward's body went stiff until I moved so that my shoulder wasn't touching his. Huh, I wonder if he felt it too. I took a quick glance at him, his jaw was clenched tight and his hand was balled into a tight fist.

Thirty minutes later and our homework was done, I was having a hard time catching my breath. I cleared my throat and started to stand up; I had to get away from him.

"I'm going to get something to drink." I announced to everyone, Alice smiled up at me, Jasper ignored me and Edward was looking up at me.

"I'll go with." He got up faster than I could blink and we walked into the kitchen together.

So much for getting away from him, couldn't he see that I wanted to be away from him, that I couldn't catch my breath with him so close to me? What was this man doing to me? I looked at the clock after I grabbed a soda from the fridge and noticed that it was seven and no dinner had been made, no one had asked if I wanted anything to eat. Just at the thought of food my stomach decided to announce to the whole kitchen that it was hungry.

"Sorry…" I muttered while taking a big gulp of my soda, way to embarrass myself even more. I went to leave the kitchen but Edward's hand grabbed my elbow.

I stopped in my tracks and my eyes flew to where his hand was gripping my arm, I felt the heat rise up my neck and to my cheeks. Great, now he was going to see me blush at the fact that he was holding my arm. I yanked my arm out of his grip and glared up at him, how dare he touch me.

"Sorry… uh… do you want a sandwich?" He stuttered out.

Good he should be afraid, fucker shouldn't touch me, he has no idea how much I want him to keep doing it. I just stared at him; yes of course I wanted something to eat. No, I don't want _you_ making it for me. I don't want you doing anything for me I don't want you thinking any less of me. He didn't wait for my answer as he went to the fridge and pulled out the cheese and mayonnaise plopping it on the counter, he opened the loaf of bread and then went for the knife but dropped it. I could be nice, I guess. So I bent over to grab it only to have my head meet his chin.

Fuck he has a hard chin. Fuck.

"Fuck." He hissed out, snapping up at the same time he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me up with him.

Again with the touching, what the hell? My breath hitches in my throat when I look up at him and notice he is staring at me like he can't believe he is holding me by the arms. I don't know how long we were staring at each other, all I know is that I wanted so badly to close the gap between us and taste his mouth, his bottom lip is a bit fuller than his top lip, he must have read my mind because my eyes darted from his back to his mouth and his tongue ran slowly across his bottom lip. His breathing got a little heavier and his grip on my arms got tighter. I think he was going to kiss me, no… in fact I could almost bet he was going to kiss me.

"Stop!" A voice screeched from the front room.

Alice. Why was Alice screaming? I yanked myself away from Edward and ran back into the living room. Alice was running out of the room up the stairs and Jasper was sitting on the couch mouth hanging open. What the hell did that mother fucker do to Alice?

I stalked up to him, "What the hell did you do to Alice?" I screamed in his face, he went to stand up but I pushed him back down onto the couch. "You piece of shit, I swear to god if you did anything to hurt her I'll cut your balls off and feed them to your fucking mother. You stay away from her; I don't want to see you anywhere near her!" I snapped as I kept pushing him back on to the couch.

Piece of shit, dirt bag mother fucking asshole, I swear if he did anything to hurt her I really would cut his nuts off.

"But I…" I didn't want to hear it, I've never hit a guy before or a girl but for some reason I felt protective of Alice and I took a swing, I knocked him in the jaw and his eyes went wide.

"I don't want to hear it!" I growled out as I turned and took off after Alice.

I felt my hand throbbing as I ran up the stairs to her room, shit I hope I don't get jumped tomorrow at school by one of his whores. So much for staying out of the spotlight he'll probably have a bruise on his face. I stopped in front of Alice's door and knocked twice before I pushed the door open.

"Alice?" I asked softly as I shut the door behind me.

She was laying face down on her bed crying so hard her body was shaking. I walked over and jumped up on the bed; I placed a hand on her back and tried to sooth her, but from what? I don't know, I just knew she was upset about something.

"Bella?" Her voice was hoarse as she moved her face out of her pillow and looked over at me.

"What happened?" I asked, was that what I'm supposed to ask? I'm not good with this type of thing I never got comforted for anything; I was never in her position to be comforted anyway. Shit, what if it was too much, too soon? What if he tried to put his hands down her pants or called her ugly? I closed my eyes against the images of me storming down the stairs with a pair of scissors.

She kept crying and didn't say anything, "I took care of him… not matter what he did." I told her softly, isn't that something she'd want to hear? I know it would be something I'd want to hear. Mother fucker I swear I'll kill him.

She took a deep breath and her eyes went wide, "What did you do?" She got out.

"I decked his fucking face; I didn't want to hear his lame excuse for upsetting you." I shrugged with a small smile on my face, it fell when I looked at her shocked eyes. Shit maybe hitting the ass-fucker wasn't a good idea, maybe he didn't do anything wrong. "Alice please… please tell me what's wrong, why did I have the urge to deck him. Tell me he deserved it." I was rambling, I do not want to go and apologize to him.

"He tried to kiss me… he… he grabbed my arm…arm and pulled me…to him." She hiccupped; good he did deserve to be punched.

I gave her a hug and soothed down her hair, "Hey… hey we'll take care of him. I swear if I have to get my dad to drive down from Forks I will. He has a gun Alice." I stated, she let out a soft laugh and sat up more. She looked very sad, Alice shouldn't look sad.

"I want to tell you something…" She trailed off looking down at her hands; she twisted her bangles around and slowly looked back up at me, "You have to promise not to tell anyone." She added looking me in the eyes.

"Of course, whatever you tell me stays here." I nodded at her.

She cleared her throat a little and looked back down at her bangles and then back up at me several times.

"The reason I was so scared… am so scared to be alone with Jasper… is I … I had this boyfriend…a…a… few years ago…" She gulped and let out a nervous breath, "I… I thought I loved him… but I was young …stupid… fourteen… so, so stupid." She sighed as she ran a finger around her forearm.

A few tears ran down her face, "It's okay Alice," I tried to reassure her, though I wasn't too sure it was okay.

"He was abusive, and obsessive or me. He didn't want me to have friends… he pushed me to do things, he… he cheated on me but claimed he loved me." She took another nervous breath and looked me in the eyes, "I knew when he did this, that it wasn't love that I felt… I was just a stupid little girl." More tears were running down her cheeks when she pulled some of her bangles off her arm and showed me a scar on the under part of her arm just above her wrist. It was shaped in a half moon and was white with age. I sucked in my breath and notice that I had tears running down my own face.

"Oh, Alice!" I cried grabbing her into a hug.

"I know Jasper is the one, I can feel it… but when he grabbed me… he frightened me… All I could think about was _him_, how _he_ use to do that to me. I was so afraid." She sobbed into my shoulder.

Well shit. Now I want to meet this mother fucker and actually have my dad's gun. No one in their right mind would do something like that, mark someone as theirs, threaten someone, and abuse someone. Here I thought my life was a sad, sick life. Alice has been through so much more than I had. She cried for a while longer and then pulled away from me with a half smile on her sad face.

"Please don't change how you act around me." Her voice was small, so small.

I huffed, "Of course not! I wouldn't want you to act different around me. But you know I will fuck Jasper up if he tries any monkey business with you again." I smirked causing her to laugh a little. "You… you should tell him. If you think he's the one…. You should." I added. If she really truly thought that Jasper was her soul mate and that they belong together, she'd have to tell him that way he didn't fuck it up by being a teenage male.

Her eyes got wide with fear and she shook her head, "No! I can't… he'll think I'm some freak and then he'd never want to date me." She shook her head more.

"You think he's the one… don't you think he might feel the same way about you?" I asked. If they were soul mates he'd have to feel the same way about her, he'd have to know that she was the one.

Isn't that how it works? Isn't that how it was supposed to be for soul mates? That instant attraction, the never can get enough of one another type of thing? I've seen the look on her face when she's looking at him, nothing in the world matters except for him, her eyes locked with his and its clear, clear that they belong together. Yes, I know I hate the fucker but I've seen it with both of them in the short few hours I was around them today.

_Love_

They did, they loved each other, it was too soon to voice it but it was there. I'm sure had I not punched his fucking face he probably would have been up here trying to comfort Alice himself.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! hope you like how this story is going so far!**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out. My power cord died on me when I was in a country that didn't sell anything I could use. I got home and had a few lying around and made them work. **

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE

I can't believe how fast time is going; it's been two months since I met Alice and my life has changed so much since then. Every Friday night Alice, Rosalie and I have been at football games. Last year I would have laughed at anyone if they told me that I'd be spending so much time at the stadium, Rosalie would even drive to the away games, so the two of us could watch. It's been fun. I was shocked at first, how much fun football games could be, but with Alice and Rosalie always cheering their men on, and being so happy, it started to rub off on me.

Rosalie and Emmett seemed to be getting pretty close, she still says she's not going to sleep with him, and he hasn't pressured her into anything that she doesn't want to do. I'm shocked to say the least, very shocked. The way he was before they started to date painted him as some womanizing asshole, and here he was, being the perfect gentleman towards her.

Alice and Jasper seem to be doing great; I haven't had to punch him or threaten his life since that one time. She told me she talked to him about her past, and that he understood and felt like shit for trying something on her so soon after meeting her.

Alice was pissed off at me for about a week after my 18th birthday; I didn't tell her it was my birthday until the night of. It fell on a Thursday, and Rosalie, Alice, and Renee just hung out with me in front of the TV. I was happy they still listened to me about my birthday, I hated how people wanted to have everyone they met party with them, that wasn't what a birthday was too me. A birthday to me was your closest family and friends hanging out doing what you wanted.

I wanted to sit on my ass, watch cheesy movies, and eat junk food all night, so we did. I had to get mom and Rosa to explain that to Alice when she demanded that she throw a party that weekend for me, or at least get me a gift. She still got me a gift though I asked her not too; I think that may have helped her in only being pissed off at me for a week and not a month.

My nights usually consist of me either hanging out doing homework and watching movies with Alice at her place, or Rosalie at my place. Thursday nights I got to hang out with Jacob and we usually watched Cartoon Network while I did my homework, on the rare occasion Alice would come over and hang out with us.

Tonight wasn't one of them, I think, because tomorrow was the homecoming football game and then Saturday night the dance. She has been going crazy about getting her dress to be perfect. She said that we are going as a group because it wouldn't be fair to anyone who didn't have a date to go alone or to not go at all. I think she meant it wouldn't be fair to me since I didn't have a date. Though I know Edward didn't have one, he never actually brought a date to the dance; he usually just took some girl back to his car afterwards.

"Bella?"

I stopped tapping my pencil on my textbook and looked up; Jacob was standing at the end of the coffee table looking at me, his dark eyes staring.

"Hmm?" I asked, as I dropped the pencil. I wasn't doing anything with it in the first place; I was having a real hard time with my Math. I think it might be too advanced for me this year.

"I'm hungry. Can I have some Mac and Cheese?" He smiled at me, his eyes going wide. I laughed a little; he loved his Macaroni and Cheese.

Getting up, I grabbed his hand and we walked into the kitchen, "As long as you help me?" I smiled and let go of his hand as he climbed into the stool, resting his face in his hands.

I had just poured the noodles into the pan with the doorbell rang, and before I could stop him, Jacob bounced off the stool and ran to the door yelling that he got it.

"Who are you?" Jacob's voice was loud and carried into the kitchen. Shit, who is at the door? I quickly turned the burner to simmer, so I didn't over cook the noodles, and went to go investigate. I don't think it would be Alice, since Jacob knew her.

"Who are you, little man?"

I stopped, frozen in my place just before the kitchen door.

What was _he_ doing at my house? He has never been here, ever… never ever. I swear if this is Alice's way of getting us to be friendly towards each other, I'm going to beat her myself. She can't push his ass-face ways into my life, I've already been the good friend and worked on my project with him at the local library, that right there should be plenty of time with him.

"I'm Bella's boyfriend, you need to leave." I laughed softly to myself at Jacob's words, he has always claimed to be my boyfriend from the first day I met him.

"Aren't you a little young? What, you're five years old?" Edward questioned. Wrong, Jacob was six years old.

"NO! I am six… you need to leave." I made my way out when Jacob yelled, to see him trying to push Edward out the front door. I almost passed out looking at Edward, he was wearing a pair of faded light blue jeans and a tight white t-shirt, his hair was a mess like always and he had his backpack over his shoulder.

What the hell, did he want to study some more? I really didn't want to see him; I study with him every night I'm at his house and usually every day after school at the library. I'm sick of him… well, not really, the more I spend time with him the more attracted to him I get, and it's getting on my nerves.

"Jake, knock it off," I scolded, stopping a few feet from them, "what are you doing here Edward?" I asked my heart pounding in my chest.

He shifted his feet and pulled his backpack off his shoulder and set it down on the floor. He cleared his throat, looking nervous. Good, he better be, I am glad I can make him nervous. He made me nervous even when he wasn't around me, and I hated that shit, I hated that he had that hold over me.

"I… I need help." He stuttered slightly, giving me a half smile.

The guy needed help, ten bucks says it's his Spanish homework. I cocked my eyebrow at him and crossed my arm over my chest. I noticed Jacob copy me, his arms now crossing over his chest.

"Can you…Please, help me with the Spanish assignment?" He asked.

Ha, so I was right, Spanish was too much for Mr. 4.0 to handle.

"Why can't you ask Alice for help?" I mean, the girl was in our Spanish class as well, and she fucking lived with him. It wasn't a stupid question, and I hope he says something like he just wants to work with me because he wants to jump my bones, and every minute we spend apart he misses me that much more. Ha-ha, right if he said something like that to me I'd probably punch him in the face. I don't need another Eric Yorkie on my hands, one was bad enough.

"Yeah ask Alice, leave." Jacob glared, arms still crossed.

"Well… I did… but she threatened to kill me if I bugged her one more time. She and Esme are working to fix her homecoming dress," He bit his lower lip.

Good. Glad she threatened him; maybe I should threaten him and tell him to never touch foot in my house again, though it would be stupid because I didn't want him to leave.

"Fine I'll help you… but you need to help me with our math homework." I stated, with my arms still crossed. Jacob glared up at me, his arms falling to his sides.

"I can do that." His smile crossed his face, and he grabbed his bag taking it to the couch.

"But…" Jacob started, upset that Edward was staying.

I turned towards the kitchen, Jake following me, "Do you want some Mac 'n Cheese?" I asked over my shoulder to Edward, it would be rude to eat in front of him, had I not offered him some. I doubt if he has ever tasted boxed Macaroni and Cheese before in his life.

"Uh, sure."

He sounded unsure of himself, but he followed the two of us into the kitchen, my nerve endings were on fire as I felt his eyes watch me finish making the cheap boxed food.

I finished stirring in the milk and cheese powder and was reaching for the bowls when I felt him come up behind me. My breath hitched in my throat and I got warm all over, I hated him for causing this reaction out of me, I hated him for not caring for being a jackass.

"Let me help." His voice was low as he reached over my head to grab the bowls out of the cupboard; he placed them on the counter next to the stove and then turned so his back was resting on it. "I haven't had Mac and Cheese since I was a little kid." He stated, watching me as I scooped up the food into the bowls.

How did I guess that shit? Mom comes into money and soon you are too good for the cheap stuff. I bet he hasn't had canned apple sauce either.

"Mac and Cheese is the best!" Jacob bounced in his seat as I turned with his bowl in my hands.

"That's right Jacob, it is the best!" Edward smiled grabbing the other two bowls and sitting them on the kitchen table, taking a seat next to Jacob.

I sat down across from him and stared at the two of them, Jacob kept glaring at him and Edward kept making faces at Jacob. Goes to show you how mature Edward is if he couldn't even sit and be nice to a six year old kid.

I had to remind Jacob to be nice to guests in my house, though I thought it was cute when he called Edward a 'mean poop face' and then tried to shove him out the door when we were sitting on the couch. Edward just laughed and told him that being a mean poop face isn't always a bad thing.

That was two hours ago, one hour ago Billy Black, Jacob's father came and picked him up. He took one look at Edward and the usual smile that graced his face was turned into a scowl which struck me as weird, considering Billy knew nothing of Edward.

So the past hour Edward and I have been stuck sitting on the floor at the coffee table, doing homework, the TV was on some random station and I couldn't figure out the last few equations to my Math, Edward caught on fast to his Spanish. It pissed me off, why did he have to be so good at everything he did? Yes he had a hard time with his Spanish, he often does but ten minutes after I explain to him what to do he has it, but me on the other hand? No I can't understand it, it almost makes me want to drop the class I don't need it to graduate, I've already got my three years of math for that, I just need this to help with college. The more I do in high school, the less money I have to spend in college.

I'm sure it doesn't help me with the fact that our shoulders are touching and every time he moves his right leg it brushes against mine. Every time he breathes my eyes move to his chest and his tight shirt, his muscles were straining in it and I wanted nothing more than to rip it off of him. I sighed, dropping my head to my homework, it was no use, I couldn't concentrate with him sitting so close to me, all I can smell when I breathe is him, it's annoying.

"I don't get it." I grumble, lolling my head side to side on my work. I felt like screaming and throwing my math work in the trash. Edward chuckled softly, so soft I almost didn't hear him. I turned my head and glared at him, "I'm sorry we all can't be super geniuses and know everything at the drop of a dime." I hissed, which only caused him to laugh out loud.

"Here let me explain it again," He smirked at me as he reached across me to grab my pencil and paper, his arm rubbed against mine and it took everything I had not to moan or gasp at the feeling of his skin against mine.

I'm not sure if he noticed, but he did slow his movements down, my eyes trailed slowly from the point where our arms were touching up past his bicep, over his shoulder, the crook of his neck, over his jaw, his lips, his nose and then to his eyes. He was staring at me and I felt a blush creep up my neck, flooding my cheeks, he just caught me ogling him. I dropped my eyes down to my lap and was about to say something when the front door opened, my mom walked in.

"Bells… whose car is in the dri-" She stopped talking when she noticed the two of us sitting on the floor. "Oh…" She trailed off looking between Edward and me.

Edward stood up faster than I would have thought possible and practically ran to the front door, his books lying on the coffee table.

"I…" He looked at me for a second, glared at my mother and then back to me, "Bye." Sharp and to the point, he was to his car before I could grab his things and take them out to him.

My mouth was hanging open, I know it was and I didn't care, that was the weirdest thing ever. What the hell was that about? I snapped my mouth shut when my mom shut the front door, she was giving me that look. You know the one I'm talking about? The one that screams 'we are about to have the talk about being safe' and shit. She came over, sat on the couch, and put her hand on my shoulder.

"Bells…" She looked a little confused on what she was going to say, should I tell her now I know about sex and that I'm not screwing Edward Masen? Well, at least not yet?

"Mom… no I'm not sleeping with Edward Masen." I faked a shudder, I did want to sleep with him I wasn't blind to him at all. "We were just doing homework." I added, as I pointed to his and my school books.

"Bells… I just want you to be careful with Edward; he has been through a lot and I… I don't want him to hurt you." She gave me a weak smile.

He's been through a lot? Haven't we all been through a lot in our lives? "Mom… Ew, no… I can't even stand him. He just showed up asking for help on his Spanish homework." I tried to fake another shudder.

She bit her bottom lip and moved her hand from my shoulder, "Just be careful, if you are thinking about… doing _that_ with him" She said releasing her bottom lip, "Or anyone for that matter… come to me before hand so I can, so that we can… talk?" She looked at me a little unsure of herself.

I stood up and started to stuff Edward's school things into his bag, my hair fell in my face so I didn't have to look at her. I shouldn't feel uncomfortable with her talking about sex, but it just seemed weird, she never brought it up before. I finished putting his things in his bag and started towards my bedroom, no way… I decided that I wouldn't talk to her about this.

"Sure, Mom… we'll talk." I brushed her off as I practically tripped out of the front room.

I don't see how she could just come in the house, see Edward and I sitting there doing homework, and automatically assume that we are screwing each other. Also what the hell was Edwards's problem when she showed up? He acted like he couldn't be in the same room as me or my mother, like he might throw up all over the place. I was almost pissed that Renee showed up when she had, almost. It felt nice to have Edward so close to me. It was also annoying since I knew I couldn't have him.

I fell onto my bed and stuffed my face into my pillow, letting out a frustrated cry. I was going to have to actually make nice with him tomorrow at school, when I gave him his backpack. I know we've been doing homework pretty much every day after school, but we hardly talked _during_ school, this was going to be very awkward for me tomorrow.

I closed my eyes and tried to do some relaxing breathing, slowly in and out. I counted to five each time I took a deep breath, and then I slowly let it out. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew I was being shook by the shoulders.

"Bella! Bella wake up!"

Rosalie? What was she doing here? "Get up or I'm leaving your ass home." She shook my shoulders more.

I sat up and looked around, shit I slept in. Why didn't Renee wake me up? When did I even fall asleep last night?

"Shit, Rosa…" I rubbed my eyes trying to wake myself up some.

"Get up, go brush your hair and change your clothes. No time for a shower or we'll be really late!" She pulled me off my bed and pushed me towards the stairs and the bathroom.

Fuck, I was _that_ late, so late that I couldn't even shower. Not good at all, this meant that we were actually going to be late for first period. I pulled my hair into a messy bun and brushed my teeth, washed my face and then ran back to my room to change. I couldn't find anything worth putting on, so I grabbed a pair of faded blue jeans and an old Forks Police t-shirt. Going out the door I grabbed my backpack along with Edward's, I hope he wasn't pissed that he was in class without his homework.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled to Rosalie on the drive to school, "I can't believe I overslept." I added biting my lower lip and looking over at her.

She was dressed to perfection it almost made me sick to be her friend. "Are you feeling alright? You've never slept in on a school day before." She raised an eyebrow at me.

I was feeling sick, sick to my stomach that Edward was at my house most of the night, and that my feelings for him were getting worse with each passing day I spent with him. I needed to find some guy to distract me from him. Rosalie pulled into a parking spot at school and we were ten minutes late, I can't believe she actually waited for me. We were halfway to the front doors when I heard him… he was yelling my name. We both stopped dead in our tracks and turned towards his voice.

Edward jogged up to me us, looking at me and then at Rosalie, he nodded at her and then looked back to me, his brows furrowed together, "Isabella you're late."

No shit I'm fucking late! What clued you in to that? "What do you want?" I snapped. No time to be nice, I was fucking late and standing here was just making it worse.

"You have my stuff." He yanked his bag off my shoulder and started towards the doors.

I looked over at Rosalie and she gave me that look that said, 'what the hell' and then went off towards her class. I followed Edward towards our class a little annoyed that he was pissed I was late. He didn't have to leave my house in such a big hurry last night that he forgot his own shit.

When we got to class everyone was staring at us, I felt my neck and cheeks burn with blush, and rushed towards my seat. I knew I shouldn't have, because I tripped over Anne Lang's bag and would have fell on my face had Edward not been behind me. I felt one of his arms go around my waist and pull me to him, he steadied my body against his. I wanted to die right there.

"Careful," He whispered in my ear, releasing me.

Fuck me now, Edward Masen… please? I sat down in my chair and buried my face in my hands. I couldn't look at anyone, I couldn't even think straight. Did he know what effect he had on me?

The rest of the day went by in a sort of blur; everyone was hyped about the football game tonight and the dance tomorrow night. I on the other hand, could care less about the dance, and only cared about the game because Rosalie and Alice are my friends, and if their boyfriends were on the team then it was my job to care for the game.

Rosalie dropped me off at the local library so I could study. She asked me if I could get a ride home from Edward and then winked at me, _Winked_ at me, like she knew something that I didn't know. Before I could even answer her she was pulling away telling me she'd see me at the game.

So here we were, sitting at a table going over his Spanish work, my leg was bouncing up and down from nerves. I was getting even more nervous because he kept looking at me, I'm not sure why… all I know is I wanted to leave and never look at him again.

"Why did you leave in a rush last night?" I blurted out.

He dropped his pencil and looked down at his book, "It doesn't matter," He muttered flipping through some lose pages, he stood up quickly. "I need to make a copy of these for you." He added, and went towards the front where the copy machine was located.

Great, I freaked him out. It's not like he owed me any sort of explanation about why he's a freak. I'm sure if I were in his shoes I would have bolted had the mother of the girl I was studying with walked in on her daughter eating you up with her eyes. I sighed and ran my hand over my face, this is fucking stupid. I feel like I've spent more time with Edward Masen than I have my best friend. I know tomorrow I'd be spending time with him again, though we were going to homecoming as a group. I knew that was a big fat joke.

"Excuse me…" I snapped my head up, there was a guy standing to my side, short blonde hair bright blue eyes, hot. He had a crooked smile as his face. Was he really talking to me? "We don't know each other but I've seen you in here every day." He added, extending his hand towards me, "I'm Andy… short for Andrew."

I just looked at his hand and then back up to his face, he had a dimple on his right cheek. "Oh… I'm Bella, that's short for Isabella." I smiled taking his hand in mine, shaking it.

He held onto my hand tightly and moved closer to me, "You're very beautiful Bella; I hope that doesn't scare you…" He looked down slightly and then back up to my face.

No… well kind of, I don't know you. This was what I needed; I could get Edward Masen off my mind with this Andy guy. "No… not at all." I let out a small laugh; I hope it didn't sound nervous.

"Good!" He beamed, releasing my hand, and then asked, "Would you join me for some coffee or dinner sometime?"

Wow someone had to be cocky, he just introduced himself to me and he is already asking me out on a date of sorts. I gave him a small smile and was about to answer him when Edward reappeared, he gave Andy a dirty look and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh… you have a boyfriend." Andy looked slightly sad, his blue eyes looking at his feet. Ugh, I do not have a boyfriend.

"Actually…" I gave Edward a dirty look.

"No… Edward isn't my boyfriend… just lab partner. I'd love to have coffee with you sometime." I smiled at him.

Edwards's nose flared and his jaw flexed at my words. What the hell was his problem? Andy looked stoked at my words and grabbed out his cell phone.

"That's great!" He smiled, "Here is my number. You should call me sometime. Let me know when it's a good time." He wrote down his number as he read it off his phone on to a piece of paper, and then bid me good bye.

I sat down in my chair, shocked that I agreed to go on a date with a complete stranger. Edward huffed in his seat and tapped his pencil on his book, glaring at me the whole time.

"What's your problem?" I snapped. He was really starting to piss me off.

"Are you ready to leave? I need to get ready for the game." His voice was flat, his shoulders stiff. I just nodded and we packed our stuff up quietly, he drove me home and I told him I'd see him at the game and ran into the house.

I had to get ready for the game myself, I knew Rosalie would be here in an hour so we could get 'good' seats, which we never sat in. She and Alice were both always standing on the railings holding up signs for their favorite players, wearing their numbers. I on the other hand would try to act like I cared, I just didn't get football. I wasn't sure if Edward being tackled all the time was a good thing or a bad thing. When I asked them they just shrugged their shoulders and said they weren't paying attention to Edward.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I've time a deadline on when I need to fnish this so I hope I meet it! Read and Review!**

**Please go read my beta/sisters story ** The Awakening **link is in my profile.**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Thanks for all the reviews! I can't believe that I've got almost 200 reviews! Wow that's very exciting! Thanks for reading, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter. If you want to know what dresses the girls are wearing to homecoming look at my profile links are there**.**

* * *

**CHAPTER SIX  
**

Saturday mornings are supposed to be spent asleep, you aren't supposed to spend it getting your hair pulled every which direction. Alice decided that nine am was the perfect time to come over and start getting my hair ready for the home coming dance; a dance that didn't start until 7:30PM.

I didn't believe my mom when she said that Alice was here and had a bag full of hair and makeup supplies. I still didn't believe her when Alice, small little Alice, pulled me out of my bed and towards the stairs to get in the shower. She had everything in the bathroom that was needed to get me ready for this stupid dance. She even brought me different shampoo and conditioner, stating that it will help with what she is going to do with my hair.

I tried to complain that it was way too early for this; that Rosalie could do my hair in a few minutes and she didn't have to worry about me. Alice would have none of that, and shoved me in the bathroom.

"Ali I'm starving, you know we should've eaten breakfast first." I mumbled as she yanked on another lock of hair. She held up her hair straightener, glaring at me.

"I told you last night I was going to be over early, you should've ate before I showed up." She answered, using said straightener to straighten the lock of hair she was tugging on earlier.

I didn't even realize my hair could be straightened. Goes to show you how much I care about my hair, or looks for that matter. She only complained once about how thick my hair was, only once because I told her she could just go home and I would do my hair for the dance. That shut her up about my thick hair, and that was two hours ago.

"By earlier I thought noon-ish, not nine am!" I exclaimed crossing my arms over my chest.

"Now that was stupid for you to think." She giggled, taking a bobby pin and pinning some hair up. Yanking on another lock of my hair, she continued, "Did we tell you where we're going to eat tonight?"

"Ow! No…" I groaned out in pain, I tried to rub the sore spot but she slapped my hand away.

"Well we decided to go to this nice Italian restaurant called Il Palazzetto" She tugged again, smirking at me when a pained look flashed across my face.

"Il Palazzetto? Ali that place costs a fortune, I can't afford that. You and Rosalie might have dates, but I don't and that's not fair. We should've gone to Denny's or something cheap like that." I huffed.

Alice nearly dropped the hair straightener at the mention of going to Denny's for Homecoming dinner. She set it down on the bathroom counter and put her hands on her hips.

"Denny's is for AFTER the dance, not before. There is no way in hell would Edward or Emmett be caught dead taking their dates to Denny's for dinner anyway." She stared at me raising one eyebrow.

I scoffed, "I am not Edwards date! I thought this was a group thing Alice."

Smirking she just shrugged her shoulders at me and grabbed one of the three curling irons and a lock of hair.

"Alice! Edward and I aren't going to this dance together." I ground in. No way were we going together.

I wasn't even going to go to the dance in the first place, Alice guilted me into it since I conveniently forgot to tell her about my birthday over a month ago. She didn't say anything and this pissed me off even more. I was about to stand up and protest this dance if she thought Edward and I were going as a couple.

"Fine, whatever you say, Bella." She was still smirking.

"Why… what does he think?" I asked, of course it was stupid for me to think that he actually wants to take me as his date. If her smile could get bigger it would have, she let out a squeal and bounced.

"Oh! You so like Edward Masen!" She nearly screamed out, I clamped my hand over her mouth to shut her up. Any minute now my nosey mom would be knocking on the door from this outburst.

"Shut up, I do not. He is the biggest, egotistical bastard in the world. Why would _I_ like him?" I glared, removing my hand from her mouth.

"I knew it, I knew it! How long have you liked him? This is so great; I'm going to hook the two of you up! This dance is going to be so much fun; he won't know what hit him." She bounced as she grabbed some more hair.

"Alice, don't fuck around with him like that… I don't like him and he most certainly doesn't like me." I bit my bottom lip, it was a hard to lie to her, it seemed like she could tell when I was lying.

"Bull… You are so lying; you totally love him, don't you! You dream about him every night! No wonder you always go to the library with him after school. School work my ass, you just want to do my big brother!" She laughed sending me a wink, I felt my checks burn.

I didn't have time to tell her to shove it; my ever nosey mother knocked on the door and poked her head in, "I come with food." She gave a small smile as she pushed the door open the rest of the way with one hand, holding a tray of sandwiches and other finger foods with the other.

"Thanks," I mumbled, as she sat the tray next to all the curling irons.

"Thanks Renee!" Alice beamed grabbing a small sandwich and eating it, "I'm starved." She added I'm sure just to spite me.

"Rosalie called; she said she'll be over in about an hour." Renee gave a tight smile as she looked over my half done hair.

"Ugh, I bet she just woke up!" I grumbled, grabbing some cheese and stuffing it in my mouth.

"She was over late at my house visiting Emmett, which is why she wasn't here this morning with me." Alice shrugged.

What? My best friend was over late at her boyfriends' house and she didn't call me when she got home? Was I losing my best friend touch or something? Any time she had a boyfriend and she stayed over at his house for a long period of time, or late even, she'd call me as soon as she got home to tell me what went down. Maybe… maybe she slept with him? No… no she wouldn't do that, she wasn't like that… but what if she was… what if I am losing my touch, what if she isn't coming to talk to me anymore… Shit. Rosalie and I will be having a one on one today, before this dance.

"Oh… she's dating Emmett Cullen?" My mom asked raising an eyebrow at me, ugh yes… she is dating that sleaze ball.

"Yes mom… no she isn't sleeping with him." I answered both her questions, though she wouldn't voice the second one I knew her well enough to know she'd want to know that. "No one is sleeping with anyone." I added to the third question knowing she was going to bring up Edward again. I didn't want her to bring him up and the fact that he was here last night in front of Alice.

"Last night…"

"Mom!" I cried out trying to get her to leave, please leave, please! I didn't want her to bring it up. Not in front of Alice, I haven't had to explain things to Rosalie and I didn't want to have to explain things to Alice. She was too smart for her own good; she could already tell I liked Edward.

"What about last night?" Damn it all to hell, Rosalie.

"She didn't tell you?" Mother said, faking shock as she put her hand over her heart as she turned to look at Rosalie.

Rose walked in wearing sweats and her hair was thrown up in a messy bun. Wow, she looked like shit. That is the first time I've ever seen Rosalie not made up.

Mother, wanting to be cool and hip, smirked at me and then went on to explain what _she_ walked in on after work last night. In her skewed mind she caught Edward leaning in to kiss me and me gripping his arm waiting for it. Ugh! That was not what was going on, I knew she wanted me to date but see needs to get glasses or something. Rosalie just had a big knowing smirk on her face, Alice… her mouth was hanging open and the curling iron was limp in her hand.

"Ugh, Mom that isn't what was going on." I rolled my eyes as she just laughed.

"Sure Isabella, we believe you." She winked and left us in the bathroom.

"I thought you hated Edward Masen." Rosalie shut the door and leaned against it.

"You know I do. We weren't about to make out, he was explaining some homework to me, mom walked in and he bolted." I tried to shrug as Alice curled some more hair. "And why do you look like shit?" I cocked an eyebrow at her she just shrugged her shoulders.

"I just woke up half an hour ago…" She tailed off as she picked at her perfectly manicured finger nails. "Alice said she's great at doing hair and I asked her to do mine for me." She added with a small smile, looking Alice over.

Something was wrong; Rosalie never looks like shit, even waking up she looks like a goddess. I kept staring at her trying to figure out what was wrong, I started with her hair, he was a mess and in a messy bun. Not like Rosalie at all, it looked like she went to bed with wet hair; she had no makeup on and wearing sweats outside? There was something different with her… Oh… OH!

"Did you have sex with Emmett last night?" I almost chocked on my own words.

Rosalie Hale didn't sleep with her boyfriends, her father is a priest at one of the churches and she believed that you should wait to have sex with your husband. If he forced himself on her I swear I will stop at nothing to get his ass thrown in jail. Her eyes nearly fell out of her head at my words.

"What? No, Bella!" She got out, "You know how I feel about that sort of thing." She added looking down, looking guilty?

"They never left the front room last night." Alice gave a small smile to Rosalie, son of a bitch. Still something was wrong I can tell. I should be able to tell, she's my best friend. I sighed and looked down as Alice put the finishing touches on my hair.

I stood by as Alice did up Rosalie's long blonde hair and just watched them interact. I felt like I was intruding on something, they didn't speak a lot to each other but they did have moments when they'd look at each other like they could read each other's minds. I felt like I was losing my best friend to Alice Cullen.

Right they were both my friends but I don't think I could handle losing Rosalie. Maybe they hung out more often than I thought; maybe that's what they did when I was at the library working with Edward.

Rosalie was helped me with my dress as Alice had gone home to get ready there; she promised to see us when we got there. Edward, not Emmett, picked her up this time. Weird, maybe something did happen with Rosalie and Emmett that was making them avoid each other. I would think that she would have said something to me about it though. Maybe he was just getting ready since, he actually had a date for tonight and cared about how he looked.

Before I could think about the situation any more, Renee came knocking on my bedroom door wanting to take pictures of Rosalie and myself. She had the biggest smile on her face when she took Rose and me in, in our dresses.

This would be the first year I've gone to a school dance and so this was a big milestone, according to mother, she wanted as many pictures as she could get. She was upset that we were all meeting at the Cullen's but I promised to have Esme or Carlisle take a bunch of pictures of the six of us. She insisted that I get some of just me and my date, Edward. I was tired of that crap already and we weren't even dating.

"Oh Bells." Renee had tears in her eyes as she grabbed me in a tight hug. She pulled back and looked me up and down, "Yellow looks great on you, and are you wearing heels?" She asked.

I pulled up the dress to show that I was wearing a pair of silver flats; no way would I be able to dance in heels.

Alice picked out my dress. I gave her permission since I wouldn't allow her to throw me a birthday party. It was a long yellow halter dress, with silver sequined top and bow at the waist. I liked it a lot; it covered more than I thought a dress picked out by Alice would.

She put small yellow and silver flowers in my hair, a little cheesy, but I let it slid since I was not going to go to prom no matter how much she bugged me about it. I didn't want to be a third, fifth, or whatever wheel at that dance.

Renee looked over at Rose and put her hand to her mouth, giving her a tight hug as well. You would think we were both her daughters, the way she was acting right now. She gushed at how beautiful Rosalie looked in her dress, and that it was a great color on her.

Rosalie was wearing a purple dress that fell below her knees, with thin spaghetti straps, and a black bow around the waist. She bought the dress this past summer, it was on sale and she thought it would be the perfect homecoming dress for her senior year.

After ten minutes of my mom fussing over how beautiful we both looked, and forty thousand camera flashes later, we were in Rosalie's car on our way to the Masen-Cullen house. To say I was a little nervous would be a big fat lie, I was so nervous I couldn't stop wringing my hands together. If my hair hadn't been pulled and yanked for over an hour today, I probably would have been messing with it. I felt more nervous when we pulled through the gates and saw that there was a limo sitting out front, waiting to take us to dinner and the dance.

"Rosalie, I can't afford to pay anyone back for a limo _and_ dinner!" I practically shouted at her.

"Don't be silly Bells. You and I both know that our guys are paying for the limo and dinner." She smiled with a slight roll of her eyes.

"No…_Your _guy and Alice's guy…not my guy. I'm not dating anyone and they shouldn't have to foot my bill just because I'm tagging along. That's not fucking cool and you know it. You know how I am." I rambled on.

Why would Edward Masen be cool with footing my bill? As far as I know he could barely stand studying with me, why would he want to pay for me? I was pulled out of my thoughts when Rosalie got out of the car. She ignored my rambles and started towards the front door. I got out as fast as I could and tried to catch up to her.

"Just go with it Bella, the only one complaining is you." She bit back to me, causing me to stop walking all together.

Was I really being that much of a bitch that she was talking to me like that? Shit… I was, shit. If I could I would have pulled my hair out by this point of the night, now I had to face the Cullen family and eat dinner with one of the hottest guys from school.

A guy I've had a big crush on for over a year, someone I wanted so badly. A guy that was standing in the front room wearing a black tux with a yellow vest, a vest that matched my dress, my mouth hung open as I looked at the other guys. Emmett wearing a white tux with a purple vest and Jasper was wearing a black tux with a blue/green vest.

Those fuckers, this was some sort of set up. Edward Masen was wearing matching colors with me…_me_. A shit storm was going down at the dance tonight that was for fucking sure.

"Isabella!" Esme smiled taking me into a hug, "You look beautiful!" She beamed as she released me from my hug. She went on to hug Rosalie the same way and say the same thing.

I watched as Emmett went up to Rosalie and took her into a hug, I felt like I was intruding, so I turned towards Alice, Edward, and Jasper. I hadn't said anything since I got in the house. I was afraid I'd say something stupid like, Edward I want you… let's make babies, or something like that. He looked perfect in that jackass type of way, he didn't have a hair out of place which was a first he must of put hair gel in it or some sort of product.

"Hello _Bella_." My heart did that stupid flip flop thing and I got butterflies in my stomach as he took a few steps closer to me, a yellow and silver corsage in his hand.

No. No. No. No. _No._

This was not a date, this was a group thing, and we weren't supposed to do this. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. When I reopened them, I saw that he was standing just a few inches in front of me.

"Edward." I tried to sound indifferent but I could hear the longing in my voice as he slowly grabbed my right arm and ran his hand slowly down towards my elbow and then towards my wrist. His hand stopped at mine and he slowly brought it up and slowly slipped the corsage over my fingers and over my hand to stop at my wrist.

Every part of my arm, hand, finger that he touched was tingling and made my heart beat faster, I could feel the blush start to creep up my neck and I willed it away. I didn't want to embarrass myself with a bright red blush on my cheeks, caused by this hunky guy.

"Let me get some pictures." Esme smiled, causing me to jump slightly and Edward to smirk at me, like he knew that he would cause my heart to stop, fucking jackass.

I turned trying to get my head cleared and grabbed Rosalie's arm, taking my place next to her. Emmett was behind her and Alice next to her. If I had to guess and, I knew I was going to guess correctly, Edward was going to stand behind me and Jasper behind Alice.

It was like some cheesy 80's movie. I wanted to throw some sort of toddler fit and tell them I wasn't going to the dance, and yank my hair out. But I didn't, instead I smiled for the camera, even when Esme wanted pictures of just us girls and then us girls with our dates.

Edward had no problem throwing is arm around my shoulder to pull me close to him for a few pictures. I on the other hand, couldn't breathe with his body so close to mine, and if he didn't watch it I might embarrass myself by jumping him in front of his mother and family.

We said our goodbyes and got into the limo. Emmett was the first one to break through my quietness when he pulled out a bottle of rum swinging it back and forth in front of us all.

What the fuck? Where the hell did he get that shit? Oh wait, never mind this is Emmett Cullen I'm sitting in a limo with, they probably paid the limo driver to have it stocked for us.

"Who wants one?" He smiled. Edward and Jasper both took long pulls from the bottle, Alice and Rosalie declined with their noses scrunched up.

I on the other hand, snatch the bottle from Edward and took a long pull. I needed something to calm my nerves, plus I could secretly tell myself I practically got to make out with Edward Masen, since his mouth was on the bottle before mine. I'm such a fucking little girl.

I don't drink that often. I went to a few parties when I lived in Forks and to a few when I was there this summer, but I hardly drank, so I knew that if I took more than a few pulls tonight I'd end up passed out somewhere I didn't want to be, or do something stupid.

Before we got to the dance I had taken three pulls off the rum, one before dinner and two after dinner. I was so nervous at dinner because my lovely friends thought it best that I sit next to my not-date Edward. Edward thought it best to stare at me, well not stare at me, I was staring at him and he'd give me his famous smile and eat a few bites, talk to his friends and then do it all over again.

I tried to get a salad for dinner, but Emmett made a joke about being able to see my ribs already, and had me order pasta as well. Both went pretty much untouched. After dinner, when we got in the limo, the guys took another pull, I did as well. Alice just bit her lip, but Rosalie rolled her eyes at me. We were going to have a talk later, I knew that much. I knew her that well.

The limo pulled up to the front of the hotel our dance was being held at, and the driver came around to let us out. I made Rosalie and Alice promise that we would walk in together since I didn't even want to come to the dance in the first place.

So the three of us linked arms and walked in with the guys trailing behind us. This, with my two friends, was great; this made me feel happy and not as nervous as being next to Edward Masen.

We were dancing for a good half hour before the guys decided to take their dates away, which led me to standing against a wall drinking punch. I was wishing Emmett brought in the rum, but didn't want to go after him and Rosalie, so I just stood back watching everyone else enjoy their dates and the dance.

This right here was reason number one why I didn't want to come in the first place. I knew that at some point this 'group' thing would end up with me being by myself. I can't say I blame them for wanting to be with their boyfriends, but it did anger me a little that they made such a big deal about it not being a date and me not being the fifth wheel.

"Smile." His voice startled me causing me to spill my drink all over the floor; he had that same smirk on his face since his house.

"What for? I didn't even want to come to this stupid dance." I huffed crossing my arms over my chest and looking past him. I didn't want to look at him; the alcohol in my system would have caused me to have word vomit. I didn't want to embarrass myself even more by telling him how fucking tasty he looked.

"I hate them too." He shrugged, causing me to laugh. He hated coming to these dances? Then why the hell did he even bother showing up?

"Why come then?" I asked. If he was going to come when he hated it, why did he?

"For my mom," he shrugged again and then pointed out towards a balcony that I hadn't noticed before. His mother and step dad where standing overlooking the dance, along with a bunch of other parents. He did this for her?

"Why?" I asked a little confused as to why he'd go to a school dance for his mother.

He gave me another shrug and put his arm around my shoulder his free hand raised and he waved up to Esme and she smiled and waved back. I tried to shrug off his arm but his hand gripped my shoulder and he waved to another person in the crowd of parents. I about died when I noticed my mom standing up there with a camera in hand. How did she know about this and not me? She got the biggest smile on her face when she saw Edward and me standing together. Great, just fucking great, I gave a big smile and waved to her and then shrugged Edward away from me.

"She wants my life to be as normal as possible after everything." He said, and then grabbing my arm-my fucking stomach did that damn flip flop thing again-he pulled me to the dance floor. I nearly threw up all I had in my stomach at the thought of dancing with him.

"After what? Her getting money, being some snobbish bitch that drops friends the moment she becomes better than them? Remarrying someone with even more money?" I snapped trying to pull away from him, his grasp on my hand got tighter and he yanked me to him, our chests were touching, his was heaving.

"You don't know a fucking thing, Isabella." His voice was laced with anger and his hand on my hand was causing me to wince and learn forward trying to relieve some of the pain.

"I know that my mom would never drop a friend just because she came into some mon…"

"You don't know a fucking thing! Maybe your whore of a mom should explain some things to you." If looks could kill I'm pretty sure I'd be dead.

I was about to say something more, but he dropped my hand and stalked away.

What the hell was he talking about? Why the hell did he think he had the right to call my mom names? He didn't know her. He didn't know _me_ for that fucking matter.

I turned around to go after him. I'm not sure why, maybe all the rum that I drank helped me have the courage to follow him, but I stopped in my tracks when I noticed who he had his arm around: Jessica Stanley.

I was tempted to go up to him and deck him in his face, but I knew if I came close Slut Stanley would probably touch me. I scanned the room looking for Alice or Rosalie, but couldn't find them. They must've gone off to a dark corner to make out or something. I looked up to see if Renee was still here, but she must've left when Edward pulled me onto the dance floor. I didn't see his parents either.

I was going to have to ask my mom about this somehow.

* * *

**End Note: **Just to let you all know I am trying to write as fast as I can. I've been busy and I do have a deadline that I'm trying to meet, I might not make it but hopefully I do! Please read and review let me know what you think!


	8. Chapter 7

**Hello, I am sorry this took so long to get out. I hope it was worth the wait.**

**

* * *

  
**

CHAPTER SEVEN

Sunday morning I tried to bring up Esme to my mom. She changed the subject to Edward and how great we looked together at the dance. I asked her again, later that day, and she brought up the subject of the holidays. She supposedly wanted to know if I was going back to Forks, or staying here this year. I tried again before I went to bed that night; she changed the subject to how we needed to go shopping for food before the weekend.

I got the feeling she didn't want to talk about Esme, or anything to do with what happened to ruin their friendship. It made me even more curious as to what the hell happened. Why did Edward hate my mom so much?

I knew that if I wanted answers, I was going to have to ask Edward these things. That is, if he would actually talk to me. He has been giving me the cold shoulder ever since the dance. The only time he actually says anything to me anymore is when we are working on our class projects, and that has only been at school.

I know I shouldn't be pissed off at him-we aren't together-but it is rather annoying when you've thought you got close to someone only to say one wrong thing, or so that person thinks, and they stop talking to you. Not only has he been giving me the cold shoulder, but he makes it a point to make out or do some nasty thing with one of the nasty girls in school. He has made it perfectly clear that he cannot stand me. I can't wait until this semester is over with, so I can request a different partner.

Though I actually hadn't planned on doing it, I called Andrew on Tuesday and asked him if he was still interested in getting coffee. I was both surprised and relieved when he told me he still wanted to go. We set it up to meet at the coffee house a few blocks from school on Thursday, which was today.

I'm not sure why I called him; other than Edward Masen, his whores, and his bad attitude. Alice said she didn't have a good feeling about this and expressed her wish to come with me. I assured her nothing bad was going to happen, that I had met this guy before, and that it was going to be during day light hours when we met again. She refused to give up, however, until after Rosalie handed me a small canister of mace for my purse.

Alice and Rosalie wanted to help me pick out something to wear to this coffee-date, but I didn't want to wear something all dressy just to go to the damn coffee house. I was going to meet Andy right after school today and I didn't want to have to bother rushing home to change before racing off again to the coffee house. Alice pouted at me after my explanation, but Rosalie just rolled her eyes saying something about it being typical of me to not care about my looks.

I'm a little nervous about going to have coffee with him. I'm only doing it because of Edward Masen, which is so stupid of me. I shouldn't go on a date with someone just because I'm jealous that the guy I like is making out with whores and ignoring me. I know it's stupid, but I can only hope that he'll get jealous as well. Of course this is stupid thinking, I mean, he is Edward fucking Masen. Why would he get jealous of Andy taking me out on a date?

Alice and I left Rosalie in the hall as we headed towards our Spanish class, she kept asking to drop me off and pick me up from my coffee date because she was nervous about not having met him. It was starting to make _me_ nervous, and she almost had me convinced to have her do just that, but I didn't want to start off on the wrong foot. Besides, I was going to be there in day light and I had that can of mace Rosalie gave me. Worse comes to worse I use the mace, call the police, and it's done and over with. I don't think Andrew was some mass murder or anything; he seemed to be a nice enough guy the other day at the library.

Once we got to Spanish, Alice's attention was turned on Jasper and I was completely forgotten about. I sat down next to Edward, who was gripping his desk and breathing heavy, this guy needed to go get high with Stanley or something because just looking at him I could tell he was about to flip his shit. I don't know what his problem with me was, but I couldn't stand that just a few weeks ago he wasn't such a dick to me. Now he is acting like I kicked his dog or something. I turned my head to ask him what his major malfunction was, but he had already opened his mouth to talk, catching me by surprise.

"What?" I glared at him

Taking a deep breath, he pinched the bridge of his nose, "Can we meet at my house after school?" He asked. He was staring right into my eyes and it almost freaked me out, he never did that. I wanted to blurt out yes, and I was about to before I remembered I had a date with Andy after school.

"Can't, I'm busy." I stated, watching as his eyes furrowed together.

"Busy with what?" He asked, lowering his voice as the teacher entered the classroom.

"I have a date." I whispered back. As the words left my mouth his body went ridged and his pupils dilated, he glared at me for a moment and then turned back to focus on the front of the room.

It was hard for me to concentrate during class. I was so focused on Edward that I could feel it every time he would shift in his seat, and my eyes would dart automatically to look at him. His grip on the desk was still holding strong and his breathing was still heavy. I'm not sure he was even paying attention to the class, I know I wasn't. How was I supposed to, when I couldn't keep my eyes off of Edward Masen?

When the bell rang, Edward was out of the classroom before anyone else. Sighing, I grabbed my stuff and slowly walked towards the front of the room. I didn't think I was going to be able to handle much more of this. I had to ask for a new partner, there was no way I could continue to work with Edward, no way.

"Can I help you Ms. Swan?" The teacher asked. I tucked a loose piece of hair behind my ear.

"Is it possible for me to switch partners next semester?" I asked. I know he said no switching, but maybe, just maybe, the new semester could be different. Hell I'd go _without_ a partner, so long as I didn't have to work with him.

"I'm afraid that's not possible Ms. Swan. You know I don't do favors, unless someone is added to the class everyone is to stay how they are paired up."

Fucking teachers, they don't know what the hell they are doing to their students. I wanted to lay into him and make him understand that paring students up like this, with other students they didn't like or get along with, wasn't right. It was only going to cause our school work to lack what it needed for a great grade. I didn't say all of this, because I was to chicken shit, and I'm sure he didn't care. He had so many students he probably just wanted me to leave so he could start his next class.

I let out a deep breath; my shoulders slouched and I slowly made my way out the door. So much for that fucking idea, maybe I could just switch classes; get this for a different period which would change two classes so I'd have two classes less with Edward. I slowly made my way to the career advisors office to see about changing classes next semester, happy that I didn't have a class this period.

I softly knocked on the door and opened it a crack, "Excuse me Ms. Young, can I speak with you about my classes?" I asked my voice just above a whisper.

I was done. I knew I couldn't do this any longer; I had to change my classes. I was tired of feeling this way. I almost wanted to just drop out of this high school, go back to nutty wet Forks High and become bored and barely pass their classes.

"Isabella, come in." She stood up, her dark green skirt hitting the tops of her shoes and her white blouse pressed to perfection. "What can I do for you?" She asked after I closed the door and sat down across from her at the desk.

"I was wondering if it were possible for me to switch classes next semester?" I gave a half smile hoping she could help me out. She started typing something on her computer and a few minutes later she gave me a half smile back and folded her hands together on the top of her desk.

"I'm sorry Isabella, the schedule you have is the only way to get the classes you wanted and needed. You could drop Psychology or Spanish and take different classes, but in the middle of the year I'm going to have to advise against doing so." She stated clicking a few buttons on her mouse and then looking back at me.

"Oh…" It figured. I should have known I wasn't going to get what I wanted, maybe I should just go back home to Charlie with my tail tucked between my legs and pretend I couldn't handle a real high school. "Okay, thanks Ms. Young." I grabbed my backpack and hiked it up over my shoulder and left without saying any more.

This fucking sucks, I can't get away from him and now I've got to walk down to the coffee shop for my date with Andrew. Who at 18 years old has coffee dates? Me, I fucking do because I can't seem to manage doing anything fucking right. I started towards the coffee shop feeling like utter crap. I was 18 no job, no fucking car, I had to walk to a date. I had nothing to give at this moment in time, there was something going on with my best friend and she hasn't confided in me about said problem. I'm obsessing over a boy who pretty much told me to fuck off and called my mom a whore…

When I got to the coffee shop I stopped and looked around the parking lot, I was trying to figure out which car Andy would be driving. There were three trucks, one white minivan and a red Honda. My money is on the Honda or the trucks. Not many guys would be driving around a minivan unless, of course, it was one of those vans with no windows that they used to rape young innocent girls of their virtue. I shook my head and made my way inside; I spotted Andy the moment I stepped through the door. He was wearing a pair of ratty blue jeans and a worn-out black t-shirt, looking every bit the college type, he motioned me over.

"Bella, I was starting to think you weren't going to show up!" He smiled as he pulled my chair out for me. I looked at my watch and realized I was 20 minutes late. I really need to get out of my head sometime soon.

"Sorry I must have left school later than I realized," I gave a half smile as our server came up and asked us what we wanted to drink and eat. I got a caramel macchiato and a chocolate muffin. I wasn't that hungry since lunch was only a few hours ago.

He asked so many questions I felt like I was being interrogated or something; _where was I from, how come I moved to Arizona, why didn't I own a car, why didn't I have a job. What were my plans after high school, why was Edward being a dick to him at the library last week?_ On and on and on for thirty minutes, I almost wanted to say I needed to use the little girls room and sneak out the employees only door so that I didn't have to face him any longer.

Every time I tried to turn the question around and ask him he just ignored me, never answered me and asked me a new round of questions. It was starting to make me feel a little weird, maybe I just wasn't used to being around guys. Edward never asked me many questions and the guys back in Washington all have known me since I was in diapers so they never needed to ask me so many questions. I know Alice asked me a good amount of the same questions but it wasn't weird when she did it.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, "Wow, I feel as if all I've been doing is talking about me." I let out a nervous laugh and he sat back and laughed loudly, almost too loudly like he was trying to make it seem like I said something funny. "Tell me about yourself. What are you studying in college?" I asked

He looked around a bit, rubbed the back of his head and leaned forward, "I'm currently not in college. I just moved out here a few months ago from Canada and technically I don't have a green card or a student visa so I can't start school."

I was shocked and at the same time a felt a little funny. Here I was feeling weirded out that he was asking so many questions about me and he wasn't even supposed to be in the states.

It started out as soft giggles which morphed into loud laughter until I couldn't help but wipe my eyes with a napkin I was laughing so hard, he was as well and it just made everything seem better. That is until I was forcefully grabbed by the arm and yanked out of my chair, Andy jumped out of his seat coming after me and Edward; I knew it was him by his smell.

"What are you doing Edward?" I almost screamed out as he pushed me up against the brick wall in the alley way beside the coffee shop. He was staring into my eyes and even though I was beyond freaked out he was still hot as hell.

"What the fuck?" Andy's voice was just a few feet away on the sidewalk.

I turned to look at him, "Go back inside I'm fine." I struggled against Edward and Andy waited a few seconds before he finally went back into the coffee shop. "Let me go." I tried to remain calm but his hold on my arm got tighter and his eyes never left my face.

I looked down at our bodies pressed together; I looked to the left down the alley at some trash flying around because of the wind, to the right at the sidewalk and the road. People passed by as if nothing was going on, as if I wasn't being pushed into a brick wall by a fucking sexy ass man. I looked at him then, which was the wrong, or maybe the right, thing to do because he kissed me.

It wasn't just a simple lips on lips kiss, it was a drop my panties marry the guy-do whatever he wants-type of kiss. His hands were framing my face, one of them was twisted into my hair, while his other hand was grabbing my chin to keep me in place. He swept his tongue lazily into my mouth, stroking it purposefully against my own. I could tell he was enjoying himself because I could feel his dick hardening against my stomach while he continued to kiss me until I couldn't breathe anymore.

It was the best kiss of my life, and I'm pretty sure I would have kept doing it if a loud honk had not frightened me out of my lust induced haze. I suddenly remembered that he forcefully pulled me out of the coffee shop-away from my date-to do this, after ignoring me for _days_.

So I did the only thing I could think of. I brought my knees up forcefully to his balls and, as he was doubling over in pain, punched him in the face, "Don't fucking touch me again!" I screamed out running back into the coffee house.

Andy was sitting where our stuff was head in hands, when I ran in the door his head popped up and he come up to me asking me if I was okay. I just nodded and grabbed my bag asking him if he could drive me home. He didn't hesitate and, after paying for our drinks and food, helped me get into his truck. I was right, a truck. Real men drive trucks, not Volvos. He dropped me off and I said thanks and ran into my house, tears were trying to force their way out, but I did my best to fight them off.

I lay in my room for a while thinking about that kiss, it was one of the best kisses of my short 18 years of life. I wanted to repeat it over and over again, and had he kissed me that way while at his house, than yes, I probably would have. However, he didn't, he yanked me away from my date, manhandled me and then kissed me. That isn't how I work and I wish I could've done more to him but I only got a knee and a punch in before I ran off. Also, what the fuck was his problem with my mom? I still haven't gotten to the bottom of that and it's really starting to piss me off.

I couldn't think of a time that Edward would've been around my mom other than when he was over at my house, but he booked it out the front door the moment she came home. Apparently we were toddler friends and he was around my mom then, but that was 15 some odd years ago, nothing that happened back then could've made him hate my mom now.

Sighing, I rolled off my bed and made my out of my bedroom, I was going to find out what the fuck happened if it was the last thing I did in life. I stopped at the bottom of the stairs about to make my way up to see if my mom was home, I didn't see her in the front room or the kitchen, but I was hoping she might be able to at least give me some insight as to the Edward situation. As it turned out however, I didn't need to call for her or go up the stairs; there stood my mom at the top of the stairs fixing a strap on the dress she was wearing. She was all dolled up like she had some fancy date or something.

"Bells you're home." She smiled at me as she descended the stairs, I hated that she could wear high heels and walk without having to hold onto something. "You can meet Phil!" her smile got even wider as she stopped in front of me.

Phil? Who the fuck was Phil? I was about to ask just that when the door bell rang and off Renee went to answer the door. There stood this bulky guy in a suit and tie with ugly ass roses. She was going out on a date? Fuck.

"Mom, can I talk to you?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. Maybe if she thought I was pissed that she had some date, she would actually answer my questions about Edward and Esme.

She walked over to me and gave me a small hug, "Honey, can't we talk tomorrow before you go to school?" She stated, not really even making it sound like it was a question.

"Mom… it's important, it's about Edward." Maybe that could give me a few minutes with her.

"Did you two break up? I haven't seen him around." Where would she get that idea? She went to put the roses in a vase and was out the door before I could say anything else.

My hands balled into fists as I followed them out the door, Phil was helping Renee into his black truck. She was all smiles, why did she get to have all the fun? "Mom we aren't dating, this is important." I stopped near her and Phil. She gave me the look that said we were done talking about Edward and Phil turned towards me.

"It's nice to finally meet you Isabella!" He patted my shoulder and ran around to the driver side door and jumped in. Before I could correct him on the proper way to say my name, he was pulling out and half way down the road.

Must be nice to be able to shrug off whoever you wanted, whenever you wanted. I stormed back into the house slamming the front door and then made my way up the stairs to my room. I threw myself on my bed and then grabbed a pillow and held it over my head. Maybe if I held it there long enough I'd black out from lack of oxygen and sleep until tomorrow morning. That way I didn't have to think about the way Edward's lips felt against mine, or how I didn't want to push him away. Just as I started to feel woozy from the lack of oxygen I heard something hit my window. Startled, I jumped off my bed only to see the window sliding open. I grabbed my pillow back off of my bed-wishing it was the can of mace Rose gave me earlier-ready to fend off my intruder with my down pillow and purple pillowcase.

My mouth was dropped open when I could see enough of the person to recognize them, I know stupid thing to do, but there he was climbing through my window. He looked pissed off. Shit he was going to kill me for kneeing him in the nuts! His eye was already starting to turn purple, good serves him right.

"Edward! What the fuck?" I barely got out, looking at him halfway through my window.

"Bella… I … la… Bella" he whispered climbing the rest of the way through my bedroom window. "Don't do that again." His face was pulled in a grimace, his eyes pained. Maybe he was thinking about how much my knee hurt him, or maybe how much his eye hurt because my father thought it important that I learn how to throw a punch.

"What are you-…" I didn't get to finish what I was going to say because he was suddenly right in front of me, and pushing me back against the closest wall. His lips were once again attacking mine. Was he ready for round two with Bella Swan? Did he want to have two black eyes? I tried to bring my knee up, but his legs were pressing me so hard into the wall that all I could move were my lips and hands.

Just when I was about to grab his hair and yank his head backwards his lips went to my jaw, and then down to my neck where he stopped his butterfly light kisses, his breathing was heavy and so was mine. I wasn't sure what the fuck just happened, but this was the second time Edward Masen had kissed me and the second time I was too freaked out to do anything more than plan my attack to get him off of me. He moved so that his forehead was resting on mine, his intense green eyes locked on my lame brown ones, his chest was heaving against mine and I could feel every part of his body against mine. I had to bite my bottom lip so I wouldn't moan or do something was equally embarrassing, like throw my legs around his waist.

"I can't stay away from you anymore." He breathed out, almost to quiet for me to hear, but I did. My heart sped up at the words but at the same time I got angry. He was _trying_ to stay away from me? What the hell had I ever done to him to make him want to stay away from me? Did I steal his teddy bear when we were in diapers?

"Why?" I asked I'm not even sure why I asked that question. I should have just beaten him up for breaking into my house and for attacking me, again. But I needed to know what I had done to him to make him want to stay away from me.

"You look so much like her, but you aren't her." He mumbled closing his eyes; my brows went together in confusion, who the hell did I look like?

"Who… wha…" I stumbled over my words as I tried to push him off of me.

He backed away slowly and sat down on my bed looking down at the ground, just as I was about to demand he explain what the fuck was going on, he did just that.

"Your mom."

My mom? What… the… _fuck_?!

"What, do you have some sort of sick obsession with my mom?" I blurted out before I could stop myself. It seemed plausible, he bolted whenever she was around and he thought of her as a whore. Probably because he was stalking her and realized she has a boyfriend. And now he was kissing me because I looked like her! I felt the food from earlier start to rise; he was kissing me because of my mom. How fucking sad am I to believe that he actually wanted me? Isabella fucking-plain-jane Swan.

His eyes snapped up to my face and he looked horrified by my comment, "What! No… _hell_ no!" He snapped standing up suddenly furious, "I fucking hate your mom! She ruined my fucking life. She's a low life tramp who shouldn't even be alive!" He shouted his hands balling into tight fists.

"You have-"

"_She_ should be dead, not my father! If it weren't for her he would still be alive today!" He cut me off as he sat back on my bed his body shaking and his chest heaving due to his heavy breathing, "You have no clue, Bella, no clue at all!" his voice was barely above a whisper as he looked back down at the floor.

What the fuck is going on around here?


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry for the delay… Hope you enjoy the chapter! Just a heads up its dialog heavy. **

CHAPTER EIGHT

Ten minutes of silence. Silence I couldn't stand. I had so many questions.

Of course, I have no clue what the hell is going on. Nobody seems to think it important to tell me anything, giving me vague explanations to my questions; making me frustrated and bitter. What the hell was going on around here? Couldn't someone just explain what they mean instead of making me confused and guessing at everything?

"Explain it to me." I said quietly, unsure if he could hear me whisper the words.

His body went ridged and he let out a long breath. Slowly, he moved his head so that he was looking at me.

"You asked your mom?" He asked

"I tried; she avoids it at all costs." I bit my lip, hoping that didn't piss him off anymore than he already was, "Just tell me Edward." I was starting to get annoyed.

"Why do you think your parents got divorced?"

His question caught me off guard. I had been told one thing but now I was starting to question the truth to it. Dad told me they just grew apart and he felt it would be best if I was raised in a small town with less crime. I never asked Renee, I just figured she'd say something to that extent. Now, now I wasn't so sure that what I was told came even close to the truth.

"It doesn't matter what I've been told. It must have been a lie." I sighed looking down at my comforter, I picked at a loose string.

"They had an affair, my dad and your mom; broke up both our families. Your dad took you and left. What, we were like five?" He ran his hand through his hair.

"I guess…" I trailed off; it was so long ago I wasn't sure what I remembered. I just remember being told I moved back to Forks around that time.

"Well they didn't stop their affair and my father's dead because of your mom." He hissed out fisting my blanket. I still wasn't getting how my mom had anything to do with his dad dying.

"I…I'm confused." I stated as I looked back up at him, his eyes were closed and he looked like he was in pain.

He took a few deep breaths and slowly opened his eyes, tears were threatening to spill over which caused my eyes to well up with unshed tears. In that moment I hated my mother.

"I guess they didn't stop seeing each other and that led to my parents divorcing. My mom wanted to work things out, she loved him but he couldn't stay away from Renee. I remember he and Renee having some sort of on again off again relationship, most the time it was off again, I remembered those times because my dad would be so down and so depressed and it upset me so much. When it was his weekend to have me he wasn't himself when she wasn't there, when she was there he was his old self again and I had my father back." He took another deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose, "He was happy, that's how I knew they were back together. That's why I couldn't understand why he was late for my birthday party…" His words broke with a loud sob and my tears ran down my already wet cheeks.

"Edward…" I couldn't get anything out, what could I say? I'm sorry your dad is dead? That's just obvious and stupid to even say out loud, it shouldn't need to be said.

I reached out for his hand but he flinched away from me. "They called in the middle of my party… he… he had been in a car accident."

My heart stopped and I felt dizzy. I remember getting the same phone call nine years ago; Renee had been in a car accident and was in critical condition. I don't know how I would feel if she hadn't made it, I was upset from her just being hurt. Here Edward had lost his father and he blamed my mother for his loss, which I couldn't figure out. She was in the car with his father as well, why would it be her fault that he had died? Did he blame her because had they not had their affair his father would have been at home at the time?

I just lay with Edward for a while, letting his words run through my mind, trying to make sense of everything. Nothing was adding up right, pieces were still missing and I was determined to find them. After a while of silence I looked back to Edward, but his eyes were closed, his chest rising and falling steadily. He was asleep, probably exhausted from the day and the emotional turmoil of this evening. Leaving the bed carefully, I walked down the stairs to the couch in the living room. I couldn't sleep yet, too much was running through my head.

My mother had a lot to tell me, this couldn't wait until one day she decided to confess her sins to me. If she didn't want to talk to me about this I would go to Charlie or Esme, someone who knew more. What caused the car accident? Was there something that happened that everyone else knew but me? Did Renee have something to do with it or did Edward just hate her because of the marriage she broke up? Sliding off my bed I took one last look at Edward and made my way towards the front room. We were talking about this as soon as she got back from her date with Phil. Was he a married man as well? Is that what she did? Did she date and break up marriages, or was that a onetime thing?

I woke up to my mom shutting the front door and sprung to my feet. I wasn't sure how to start this, what should I say first? What should I ask first? Should I just demand she talk to me about Edward and his family?

"Bella! What are you doing up?" She was shocked to see me standing in the dimly lit room. "Why is Edwards's car parked outside?" She asked looking around the empty room. He must still be sleeping from his break down.

"Never mind that… we need to talk." I crossed my arms over my chest trying to show her I meant business.

Her eyes went wide and she threw her hand over her mouth. What was so shocking about us talking? With shaking hands she pointed at me and then at my bedroom, incoherent mumblings were falling off her lips. My eyes widened at the words falling from her lips. "Pregnant, sex, Edward" She thinks I'm screwing Edward Masen!

"Mom! I'm not sleeping with him. He is barely even a friend… gosh!" Mortified I sat down on the couch, waiting for her to get a grip on reality.

She sat her purse on the coffee table and sat on the opposite side of the couch, looking at me to explain what was going on. How do I start, what do I start with?

I took a deep breath and figured I'd start from the beginning, "How could you cheat on Dad?" I asked just above a whisper, she sucked in a harsh breath at my question.

"It's not what you think, baby…" She whispered moving closer to me on the couch

"Not what I think? You broke up two marriages, yours and the Masen's marriage. Not what I think? Then explain it to me, like I've asked you to do for the last few weeks!" I exclaimed, trying to get a better picture out of what Edward told me. I was sure if I just had a few more pieces the picture would finally form. How could she do that to Charlie, to Esme her best friend!

We sat in silence for who knows how long before she cleared her throat and moved to sit right next to me. "If you really want to know what happened I'll start from the beginning, is that what you want Bells?"

I nodded my head, ready for her to get on with it.

She cleared her throat, "Esme, Ed and I all grew up together, or as much as we could when we were all from a different class of people. Ed's family owned property all over the States, Esme's family were close to his owning businesses and stocks. You know how well off our family is so we don't have to talk about that." She took another shaky breath and continued, "The point is they both went off to an Ivy League school and I was stuck here in Phoenix at school here. I was lonely and had no friends, they were my only real friends and they went to the other side of the country to school.

"It was so hard on me, these were the people I loved more than anything and they left me. Not just for school, even during breaks they stayed over there. I fell into a sort of depression and it got worse going into year two of college when news was heard that Esme Platt and Edward Masen got married. And it got even worse, a month later news was heard that they were expecting. Of course, rumors spread through the gossip mill that they got married because she got pregnant. I just couldn't believe any of it, I tried to call them to find out what was going on, but they were always so busy." She sniffed and stood to go into the kitchen, probably to get some tissues.

I sat on the couch trying to figure out how this plays into her breaking up two marriages. She came back in a few minutes later with two glasses of water and a box of tissues.

Clearing her throat once again she continued, "So I felt ignored and lonely. It was the worst thing to feel for a 19 year old. I kept going to school hoping to just one day get out this funk, to one day find something that made me feel. It wasn't long after all the news of Esme and Ed that I met your father. He was the most handsome man I ever laid eyes on. I ran into him while getting lunch. He asked me to eat with him and I just couldn't say no. I thought to myself this is what I need, this handsome man wants to talk to me, he could make me feel happy, get me out of my funk." She took a sip of her water, reminding me of the glass in my hands, I did the same.

So my mother was depressed and then found Charlie, what could make her want to cheat on a man that made her happy? Make her want to break up her best friend's marriage?

"We started to date. He would tell me about how his dream was to someday move back to this little town called Forks. He said that as a small child he just loved it, that's where his parents were until they died in a plane crash on their anniversary. He wanted to be the Police Chief and raise a family there. That after he graduated in May he was going to intern for the summer in hopes that they would hire him. I just felt that heaviness come back at his words. I only had a few more months with this…this light before he left for Forks." She dabbed at her eyes with the tissue and grabbed my hands.

"We both love you very much and wouldn't change anything even if we could." She squeezed and I felt tears slide down my face. So I was what caused all of this, a mistake that changed their lives forever.

"When I found out I was pregnant I just couldn't tell him, he had all these plans. He had already been in contact with the Forks Police Station, even though he still had five months remaining before graduation. I should've realized he had figured it out, but I was just too in my head all the time to see that he had noticed my changes. There are a lot of 'what if' scenarios that run through my head after all this time. If only I had told him to go to Forks, saying that I would follow-or something close to that." She took a deep breath and large gulp of water

"But I didn't. I went to class, came back to my apartment, and when we had time we would be together. It was an endless cycle. I was with him enough that I should've noticed he stopped talking to Forks and started to talk about getting a job here. But I didn't, I was too focused on trying to hide that I was pregnant to realize he knew. I was barely showing, it looked more like bloating then anything but he knew."

Tears were running down my face at this, I felt like even though I was just a little thing without a name that I somehow ruined their lives. She shifted on the couch to look at me more full on.

"It was the end of March when your father asked me if I thought he was stupid. Of course I didn't think he was anything close to stupid, and I told him this but he just kept getting angrier with each passing minute. He started screaming at me about how stupid I was for thinking I could hide being pregnant when I slept next to him almost every night. He said he could feel the baby moving when I was sleeping; that he figured it out over a month ago and wanted to know why I wouldn't tell him he was going to be a father." Renee laughed at something and dabbed some more at her eyes.

"I can't believe I was stupid enough to try to hide it from him, your father is, after all, a police officer. He probably figured it out before I did. But of course that's just me, I didn't want to tie him down. I should've told him right away and I should have known he would find out, I had felt you moving weeks before he blew up at me." She gave a small smile and squeezed my hands some more

"Mom…" I didn't know what to say, she was hiding the fact that she was pregnant so she wouldn't tie Charlie to us, so that he could go to Forks and do what he had always dreamed of doing.

"Your father kept going off about how we should've done it the right way and the next thing I know he's demanding that I get in my whitest dress I own and that we were going to the court house to get married. No child of his was going to be born out of wedlock. So we got married on March 27th, I was wearing a white summer dress with a red flower design running down the back and your father was in a suit and tie." She had a smile on her face at the memory of getting married.

"Having you was not a mistake, but getting married was, Bella." I shifted in my seat feeling awful that they got married all because she got pregnant with me. "We had only been dating for four months and it was fine at first, we may not have loved each other the way a married couple was supposed to, but we loved you. We had this entire first year with you, and it just kept us going. Until one day I couldn't take it anymore, I could tell your father wasn't happy, the light he once had was diming, this wasn't his dream.

"You were two when Esme came back with Edward while Ed was in Law School. Things between your father and I weren't so great so you and I spent all our time with Esme and Edward, he was just a few months older than you but you tortured him and beat him up. Esme had told me that things with her and Ed were not that great either, he drank all the time and sometimes he wouldn't come home from interning or from school. She just couldn't take it and moved back to be closer to family." She took a deep breath while I mulled over what she had said.

So they both got married and tried to stay married for the sake of their children. Even at the age of 17 I knew that was one of the stupidest things people did, you can't stay together just because you have a child.

"What happened? Why did dad take me? Why were you with Edward's dad in that car? Why aren't you friends with Esme anymore?" I asked trying to just figure it all out. How many more why's would pop up?

"What happened? Being unhappy happened. I wanted to go back to school, I dropped out to take care of you and your dad got a job offer from Forks. So when we finally got divorced we worked out a custody agreement, you were to come visit me every summer in Arizona and live with Charlie the rest of the year. His dream would almost be true.

"That crash just was… the biggest mistake of anyone's life… Ed had a drinking problem his and Esme's relationship couldn't handle that, in fact they got divorced before your father and I did." She sighed and squeezed her eyes shut.

"I spent a lot of time with Ed. He was always on and off the wagon all the time. Sometimes he'd go months sober but then he'd call and be upset about something. I'd go rushing over there to see that Edward was left sitting in front of the TV while Ed was nursing a hangover. He'd act like nothing was wrong that he just had a headache but I knew better, he was one of my best friends you can't hide things from like that from your best friend. So I'd make breakfast, take care of Edward while Ed would sober up. I did it for years until I told him I couldn't do it anymore. That if he didn't get real help, that he would lose his rights to his son, that it wasn't right for Edward to deal with a drunk for a father." She was crying harder now which only caused me to cry harder.

This is why Edward thought his dad and my mom were together, it's funny what a child sees and what is really going on around them.

"I remember that night like it was today. I was running late which was normal for me; I was almost out the door when Esme called. Ed hadn't showed up for Edwards's big birthday party and Edward was torn up about it. She asked if I could swing by Ed's place on my way over. So I did, and he was sitting in his car with a bottle of vodka… oh god… I remember ripping open the driver side door and screaming at him, asking him what the hell he was thinking spouting off statistics of drunk driving and deaths and he just sat there and cried about how he didn't want to let us all down again how he felt like a failure. He kept promising he hadn't even opened the bottle, it was the truth, and it was still sealed. I told him he had to pull it together that he had a birthday party to get too. I made him get in my car so I could drive us to Esme's." She blew her nose and moved so that she could get up.

"It's funny the crash, he was rambling about random things and today after much thought if he had gone to the doctor they would've diagnosed him with depression, but he was afraid to go in and get seen, didn't want something really to be wrong with him. We were hit on his side of the car by a drunk driver. All my spouting and yelling about how many people a year die from it, and we get T-boned by a drunk. I remember the airbags deploying, the feel of the glass raining down on us, the taste of blood, the smell of gas, oil. The sounds of metal crunching together, the dizziness of the car flipping over and over again until he came to a screeching stop on the side of a road…" She was crying so hard she couldn't finish and I grabber into a hug and just cried with her.

To go through that, to see your best friend die, how could I have thought she was cheating on Charlie, with Edward's father? I felt like shit, my mother went through so much and I accused her of breaking up two families.

"Mom, I'm so sorry!" I cried, she was rubbing my back and crying just as hard as before.

She slowly let go of me and stood up, "If he's staying over just keep your door open." She let out and I just rolled my eyes, I'm most definitely not having unprotected sex until I'm at least 30 years old. "I'm going to go to sleep, just let me know if you want to stay home and I'll call the school for you in the morning." She added grabbing her cell phone and heading up the stairs, I could faintly hear her on the phone "Es, its Renee…."

I wondered if that was the first time she'd called Esme in a while as I made my way to my room. My breath caught when I noticed that Edward was sitting on my bed looking at the door, I wondered how much he heard.

"I don't believe it." He stated moving to stand up.

"I don't think she'd lie, Edward." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"He wasn't a fucking drunk, Bella!" He exclaimed grabbing my arm, in an attempt to make me believe him.

"You were a child; you don't know what was real and what wasn't!" I shrugged my way away from him and went to my dresser to find something to sleep in, "I'm tired, it's almost three am, and I'm going to sleep." I added turning towards him, giving him a look that told him to leave.

He stormed out of my room and I changed before following him, I needed to make sure the house was locked up after he left. I stopped mid step seeing him sitting on the couch, head in hands, his shoulders were shaking and I knew he was crying. I locked the front door and turned out the lights, leaving us in blackness.

"I don't want to believe it, Bella…" he stopped talking when I sat next to him on the couch.

"Maybe you should talk about it with your mom?" I asked, the only way to know the real truth was to ask the people who lived through it.

"I guess…" He trailed off probably unsure if he should or shouldn't.

"Come on, I'm tired my mom said you could stay." I stood up and grabbed his hand.

I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow but I couldn't stop from dreaming about a car crash I was just told about, how much Renee could remember from that night almost ten years ago.

**A/N 2: I hope everyone liked this chapter. Sorry it took me almost a year to get it out to you. I'll try to be faster with the updates. That is if anyone still reads this.**

**Just to warn I don't have internet at home. So I have to write this, send it to my sister who then uploads it for me!**


End file.
